Hidden Compliments
by Username-not-taken
Summary: "It was almost like Kitty didn't want to insult her. That she regretted it. Marley shook her head in disbelief at this thought. She knew that it wasn't possible." Marley feels the need to help Kitty when she sees vulnerability in her eyes. Kitty is hiding her home life from everyone and redirecting her sadness as hatred. Can Marley get Kitty to open up to her? Karley.
1. Chapter 1

Marley lay on her bed, iPod playing soft music; she was, however, barely listening to the gentle melodies that were echoing into her ears. The brunette's eyebrows were scrunched up, her mind wandering away in thought.

Earlier that day, Kitty had insulted her mother, as usual, but this time Marley had given her a glare that even Quinn Fabray would have be proud of, then simply walked away. Although it wasn't much, Marley felt like she'd stood up to the shorter girl in a way.

That wasn't what the girl was thinking about, though; Marley was thinking about the look of pain she saw in Kitty's eyes. It was almost as if Kitty didn't want to insult her. That she _regretted_ it. Marley shook her head in disbelief at this thought; she knew that it wasn't possible. Kitty never felt bad, or showed _any_ vulnerable emotions such as fear or sadness. All she did was ruthlessly insult everyone.

"Maybe it's just an act? Or a defence mechanism?" Marley slowly asked herself. She really didn't know why she was defending Kitty; the blonde was the closed Marley had ever come to hating someone. She would constantly insult her Mum, her clothes, her hair, her shoes and everything else there was to abuse.

Marley let out a sigh of confusion; she just couldn't figure Kitty out.

* * *

Kitty let out a tired sigh as she collapsed into her bed; the girl had just finished a three hour cheerio practice, and all she wanted to do was sleep. She was just beginning to drift off when she heard a loud yell coming from downstairs.

"Kitty! Get your fat butt down here right now!" Kitty's dad, Greg, yelled.

Kitty weakly flinched as she jumped off her bed, rapidly walking down the stairs. She knew she was in trouble, although she didn't know why. As soon as the blonde reached the lounge room her mother was on her case about taking too long.

"Kitty, I just went on your school website and one of your senior peers posted that you were seen making out with some computer club geek. Why would you risk your reputation like that and why would you disobey your mother? You worthless girl. Her father roared at her.

"He's obviously just jealous, so he attempted to spread a rumour about me, Father." Kitty meekly whispered.

She knew that it was just a rumour; she was currently single, and would be until her Mum picked out one of the boys for her to date. She didn't want her father to do… what he was probably about to do. Kitty knew she was right when her father rose from the couch and walked to stand directly in front of kitty.

"I know your lying." He spat, despite the fact that she was being honest.

The man then roughly pushed her; Kitty tried not to fall, but the harsh shove was too rough and she tumbled onto the floor by her father's feet. She closed her eyes in preparation of what would happen next, which was her Father giving her a hard kick in the ribs. Despite Kitty willing herself not to, she let out a slight yelp, causing her father to cruelly laugh.

"That should teach you a lesson; now get out of my sight." He smirked.

Kitty was up the flight of stairs necessary to get to her room in the blink of an eye. She quickly locked the door of her white bedroom before lying back down on her bed, rubbing her bruising rib slightly. As the blonde glanced over to the mirror next to her bed, she felt insecure. No matter what she did, she was never good enough for her parents. She was never pretty enough; never popular enough, and she never got the perfect grades that they expected.

Kitty felt like crying, but her mother had repetitively told her not to _ever_ cry from a very young age. So instead she focused her energies on coming up with insults for the general population of McKinley high school. If she was insecure, _they should be too_. Kitty didn't like that she thought that way, but she couldn't help it. It was the only thing that made her feel slightly better about herself.

Kitty quickly ignored her guilt towards all the people she had upset today and instead grabbed her expensive phone and began to type a text telling some football player who to slushie tomorrow. So far she had 'the loser in the wheelchair', that Jacob kid who had spread the rumour about her (she'd make sure he was slushied at least five times tomorrow), most of the computer club and 'the girl with the fat mum'.

Kitty felt a little bad about throwing a slushie at Marley; she had already seen the taller girl come to school with a slight slushie stain on the back of one of her shirts, due to the numerous slushie attacks which Kitty had ordered. She knew that Marley didn't have many clothes due to the fact that she wasn't very rich; in fact, Marley was the poorest girl Kitty had ever seen.

The blonde suddenly realized that she and Marley were almost opposites. She, unlike Marley, had plenty of money to spare, while Marley had loving supportive parents, (well, parent, Kitty was not sure where Marley's dad was), while Kitty's parents were cruel mentally abusive people. Her dad sometimes even hit her. It was rare, but it still happened.

Kitty swiftly forced herself to stop thinking about that topic. Instead she angrily sent the text of slushie victims. Some part of her was satisfied that those teens would feel hopeless and humiliated tomorrow, and that she would be the source of it. A little voice in the back of her mind was telling her that she was turning out to be an exact copy of her parents, but Kitty dismissed it, banishing the thoughts.

Finally, the teen allowed the familiar feel of fatigue to overwhelm her, as her eyelids began to droop. Kitty simply brushed her teeth, then drifted off into a deep sleep.

* * *

Marley had been thinking about Kitty all afternoon; not even doing her maths homework had fully distracted her from her thoughts about the short cheerio. Marley couldn't help but feel strangely drawn towards her; she really didn't know why though. The girl believed it could because she wanted to help Kitty after the vulnerable look she had seen in the girl's eyes.

Somewhere in her mind, something or someone murmured that it could be a crush; however all Marley did was laugh in response; She definitely couldn't have a crush on Kitty, could she?


	2. Chapter 2

Kitty dramatically walked into school, making sure that everyone noticed her. She flirtatiously smiled at some nearby jocks, causing them to smirk at her. Internally, she gagged. She'd never date one of those jerks, unless, of course, her Mum forced her too. She internally grimaced. These _were_ the type of guys her mum would choose for her. As she turned away from the jocks, she could feel them checking her out. All she wanted to do was to turn around and give them a piece of her mind, but she forced herself not too. She didn't want to drop down the social food chain.

Instead of releasing her anger and frustration that the pervy boys had caused, Kitty looked for the footballer who she had texted last night. Once Kitty found him, she gave him a wink, signalling that he should begin the slushie attacks; she then went to her locker to grab the necessary things for her first class, which was English. Kitty was a B plus student in English, but she knew that she'd need to get an A plus average in order to gain her parents acceptance and love as well as stop... the thing her father sometimes did.

As she finished gathering her belongings, she sassily flicked her locker shut, giving an 'I-don't-care about-schoolwork' look in order to protect her golden reputation. Beside her she saw Marley, getting her old second hand maths textbook from her locker.

'Did you get lucky while searching threw a trash can, loser!' Kitty cruelly sneered, making it obvious that she was talking about Marley's text books. 'I'm surprised your Mum could even fit her arm in the bin.' Immediately the familiar guilt once again returned to the brunette, as she saw small tears of hurt begin to form in Marley's eyes.

'Why does this girl always get so upset!' Kitty shouted in her mind, allowing herself to internally grimace. Kitty suddenly realised that she had turned into Marley's sole bully. She felt that she almost wanted Marley to react that way. She couldn't think why though, it always made her feel much worse whenever she insulted Marley or her Mum.

Then suddenly a blur of bright orange stained the clothes of the taller girl. That jock had come with the slushie. After Marley's initial second of shock, she looked at Kitty straight in the eyes. Kitty sent a confident yet mocking smirk in the poorer girl's direction. Although Kitty's external confidence didn't falter, she felt extremely nervous. It kind of felt like Marley was staring into her soul, silently searching for her weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Luckily for Kitty, the bell rung, snapping the two from their staring. Kitty quickly turned away from Marley then begun to head to English. As she looked back, she saw Marley grab some spare clothes and head for the bathrooms.

* * *

Marley was sure that she'd seen the pain in the eyes of Kitty again. A small part of her did believe that it wasn't real though, as she _was_ covered in slushee and her vision _was_ slightly blurred by tears from the cruel things Kitty had said. Marley really wasn't sure what to do about Kitty. She had been taught to try and make everyone happy, especially when they were as sad as Marley believed Kitty was. The problem was that Kitty's just so… horrible!

Marley knew that she wasn't thinking a hundred percent straight right now, due to the combination of the sting that Kitty's insult had left and the extreme cold that surrounded her, but maybe she shouldn't help Kitty. Marley knew how much power Kitty held over the whole school. If she tried to get Kitty to let her in, Kitty could probably do something like get her Mum fired.

'But look how desperate she is for help.' A voice in the back of her head shouted. 'You can see it in the way she acts. Her insults are a plea for help.'

Marley just ignored the voice. She knew she'd have plenty of time to think about it after school. Or during school even, as she knew that next class she had was history, which she shared with Kitty herself. Marley knew that she'd never be able to focus on what her teacher was saying with the short blonde in the room.

Finally, Marley got the last of the sticky substance out of her hair, and put a warm jumper, which her Mum had made, on. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she saw a slight yellow slushie stain on the back of the jumper. Marley was sure that she had checked all her spare clothes for slushie stains this morning, but she obviously had missed this one.

'Well, there's nothing I can do about that know.' She sighed. She knew that it would be impossible to get the slushie out with mere water. She'd probably need to hand wash it when she got home.

'It's not that big of a stain anyway.' Marley whispered, attempting to be her usual optimistic self. She then quickly ran out of the bathroom and to her maths class, attempting to at least attend the last few minutes before she had to go to period 2 history.

* * *

Kitty walked out of English class, confidently stating one of the insults she had thought of last night, while she was forcing herself not to cry. She felt slightly hollow as the Cheerios that surrounded her begun to laugh. Kitty could tell that it was fake hilarity; that they are only laughing due to her popularity.

Kitty knew that a lot of people would give anything to be as popular as she was, that there were heaps of people trying to act cool; to go against who they were to be popular. Kitty, however, knew that these people would simply fail or be seen as a try hard. Kitty felt like she was one of the few people who have succeeded in this pretending game. Although it upset her sometimes, well, a lot of the time, she knew that it is necessary. She doesn't even want to think about what would happen if she was just another loser. Her parents would probably throw her out or something. She knew the she wouldn't be able to take care of herself on the streets.

Slowly the Cheerios, who surrounded the blonde, begun to leave in the direction of their various classes. Eventually, Kitty was once again alone. As Kitty glanced down at her timetable, she realised that she had History. Kitty is pretty good at history, but recently she had been slightly distracted. She believed it was because of the new girl, Marley.

Marley. The poor girl with the overweight Mum. The innocent and Naïve girl. It was just so easy for Kitty to whip insults off the top of her head at this girl, but it also makes her feel especially bad. She never really noticed at the time of the insult, but later she realised how much her comments affect Marley. She still doesn't stop, though. It's her duty to torment naïve gleeks like Marley.

'You feel worse because you're slightly jealous of her. She has a parent who loves her unconditionally, unlike you.' Her consciousness sneered. 'You wish you were like her, don't you!'

Kitty scoffed at these thoughts, trying to ignore the stinging truth of them. Quickly she grabs her phone out; as she was about to text the jock to slushie Marley again, she caught sight of the girl and saw her jumper had a yellow slushie stain on it. It was almost like the brunette hadn't been able to get the entire cold beverage out from _three_ _whole days_ ago. Kitty slowly put her phone down, weakly attempting to reason with herself that she wasn't jealous of the brunette as she had "ugly, slushee stained clothes". Kitty was desperately attempting to convince herself that she hated the sweet girl. Yet everyone knew that there was a thin line between love and hate.


	3. Chapter 3

Kitty was having a horrible day. Everything had gone wrong so far. The day had started with Kitty sleeping through her alarm, resulting in her being horribly late for class. She pretended that she had come late on purpose which resulted in her social status going up slightly, but she knew that her Mother and Father would be less than happy.

Then, at Cheerios practice she had spun to the left instead of the right while the talented cheerleaders were going through their routine. This had resulted in a verbal lashing from Sue Sylvester herself. If she wasn't so used to her parents constant insults she may have even cried at the harsh words.

The short girl was now sitting in English, as the teacher was handing essays back. Kitty was sitting there with a confident smirk on her face, though she felt anything but confident. She knew how angry her father already was due to her tardiness and if she doesn't get _at least_ 95% on this essay, she knows what he'll do to her.

After what feels like an eternity, the teacher walks over to the desk that Kitty is sitting on and hands her the piece of paper that reveals her result. Kitty nervously glances at the paper, which reads '72% - B'. Internally, Kitty grimaces. She did horribly compared to her parents high standards.

Previously Kitty would simply throw out all her bad tests, in order to prevent her parents from seeing them as well as to shield herself from their harsh judgement and punishments, but she knows that her parents now have the teachers e-mailing her grades to them. There was no way for Kitty to escape the unforgiving punishment that her Father was bound to deliver.

Kitty just numbly sat in class for the rest of the period, waiting for the bell, and, occasionally glaring at the nosy kid next to her. Eventually the bell rung and the entire class shuffled out of the room. Since that was the last period of the day, Kitty slowly walked to her locker, not eager to get home. As she spun the lock in order to gain access to her locker, Sue began to approach the short girl.

'Get into my office now, Kitty-worse-than-Fabray.' Sue yelled through her mega-phone at Kitty, then promptly walked towards her office.

Immediately Kitty abandoned her locker and followed the cheerleading coach.

'Sit down.' Sue simply said as Kitty walked into her office. She quickly sat on the seat next to Brittany, who was also in the small office.

'To give you a steaming hot bowl of "how it is", you're a horrible Cheerios captain. I saw that left turn this morning. Even crayons over there did better. She's cheerio captain again, now get out of my office.'

'You'll regret that decision.' Kitty simply said, resisting the urge to insult the cheerleading coach. She desperately hoped that what she had said was true. That Sue would see the error of downgrading her and re-promote her to head by tomorrow.

As soon as Kitty was out of the office, she immediately began to panic. _She was no longer captain of the Cheerios_. She knows how angry and devastated both of her parents will be. They'd probably kill her or something. Slowly Kitty's fear and dread began to overwhelm her, which soon caused her to begin to have a panic attack.

Kitty immediately runs into the nearest bathroom, grateful that most teens had already left for the day. That would mean that no one would see her in this vulnerable state. She soon felt herself begin to uncontrollably shake as she struggled to breathe due to her extreme anxiety. Slowly the room began to spin causing Kitty to quickly grab the sink for support.

'Breathe, Kitty, Breathe.' She thought to herself with panic as the feeling of being smothered did not stop. Slowly she slid down the wall, no longer feeling stable on her feet. Kitty didn't know how much time had gone by but she suspected that at least fifteen minutes had passed.

Kitty didn't hear the bathroom door open or someone walk into the room until the person had kneeled down next to her, whispering calming words into her ear. The rhythmic words slowly helped her calm down until she could breathe normally. Eventually she gently pulled herself out of the other girl's comforting arms, only to see that it was Marley who had helped her recover. Kitty, who automatically thought of an insult about the glee girl, held it back. After all Marly had just helped her.

'Are you alright?' Marley gently asked the shaken girl, desperately attempting to make sure that the smaller girl was indeed breathing properly.

'Fine, Loser.' Kitty murmured, instantly regretting her defences. This girl had practically just saved her life and all she could do was insult her.

'Sorry.' Kitty quickly murmured, despite hardly ever apologising she felt obliged to do so currently as Marley _had_ just helped her recover from having a panic attack. Kitty internally grimaced at the look of shock that graced Marley's face for a few seconds before the taller girl could hide it.

'Are you alright, Kitty?' Marley asked again. Kitty was surprised to hear concern in Marley's voice, it felt like Marley _actually cared_. She quickly shook that feeling off though. Why would Marley care for her after all she had said and done to the girl?

'Fine.' Kitty simply stated again in quite a cold tone, despite trying to be nice to the girl.

'Kitty, are you sure? I mean, you were having a panic attack before, which really doesn't classify as fine.'

'Drop it, Rose. Just go back to your Mum.' Kitty stated. 'Or you may find something bad "accidently" happen to one of you.'

Kitty couldn't believe that she'd just threatened the girl. She really didn't mean it, but the words had come out of her mouth before she could stop them. The Cheerio sighed slightly as Marley quickly got up to leave, looking worried due to Kitty's threat.

'And Marley.' Kitty hesitated slightly, before saying, 'don't tell anybody about this.'

Marley obediently nods before rushing out of the schools' girl's bathroom. Kitty just sat there for a few minutes, taking deep breathes and trying to ignore the nerves that were quickly returning. Once she felt like she was able to walk outside of the bathroom with her emotionless mask on, she hurried to her locker. She really wasn't sure whether she should go home straight away though. Maybe letting her parents anger simmer slightly would be the best choice. Suddenly Kitty heard a beeping sound;

'Kitty, would you please hurry home now – your loving Mother' Kitty read from the screen of her phone. Her Mum and Dad were always civil to her over text, just in case someone read them. She knew her parents didn't want anyone to know how sad and unloved she was, as it would make them seem like they weren't the perfect family with the perfect daughter.

Kitty quickly grabbed her bag from her locker and threw in the necessary books as well as her laptop and charger. She then began to sprint home, her Mum would be expecting her any minute due to the text that the woman had sent to the scared girl.

'Lucky Coach Sylvester made us run all those laps.' Kitty begrudgingly thought to herself as she arrived in front of her house after five minutes of alternating between a sprint and a fast run. After a few seconds rest to catch her breath, she grabbed the key and unlocked the door to her house.

'Kitty?' She immediately heard one of her parents snap. She quickly closed the front door and walked into the living room. Instantly she saw how much hate and anger her father held, while her mother looked more frustrated and disappointed. Kitty had barely placed her bag on the ground before her father walked up to her and slapped her very hard.

'You're worthless!' He growled at her. 'How could any daughter of mine get _down_ promoted! Or be horrible at everything!'

'Father I-' Kitty began, but was quickly silenced by another harsh slap.

'You're pathetic!' He yelled, 'you're useless!' Kitty could tell that her Father was becoming enraged, so she cautiously took a step back, which was obviously the wrong thing to do as he immediately grabbed Kitty by the hair and threw her into the wooden table in the middle of the room. Kitty felt an incredible amount of fear fill her. She felt like he would kill her, but she was paralysed with fear, so she simply lay on the firm wooden table where her father had thrown her.

'Don't run away from me, girlie!' He barked, 'for sixteen years we've clothed you, fed you and gave you anything you wanted and _this_ is how you repay us! All we wanted you to do is get good grades, be popular and claim the position of head cheerio but you can't even manage those _three little thing!_' At this point Kitty can tell that he's lost control of his emotions and that he won't hold back.

'_Maybe you deserve this._' A little voice in her head murmurs. 'Maybe it's karma. You _are_ the meanest most horrible person and you can't do anything right.'

Kitty weakly shakes these thoughts away and begins to cower slightly as her rage-filled father approaches. The blows quickly begin, mostly to Kitty's stomach. She knows that her father wouldn't dare hit her face or legs as it would risk someone finding out what he does to her. Kitty begins to sob from a combination of pain and the feeling of failure, her tears causing her father to hit harder. After about a minute of continuous striking, her father stops.

'Now get out and don't come back until you're head cheerio again.' He yells. Instantly Kitty stumbles to the door, grabbing her bag on the way out. She staggers and nearly falls many times as she walks out of the house, feeling like she's either going to faint or throw up. She forces herself to steadily walk until she reaches the local park, where she collapses onto a bench. She then curls up into a ball, her head resting on her two knees.

'What am I supposed to do now.' She whispers to herself.


	4. Chapter 4

'Would you like to rent by the hour?' The receptionist mumbled to Kitty, expecting a definite "yes" from the girl. Kitty knew that he was obviously expecting some guy to walk in and for them to want the room for "sleeping together". The presumptuous man looked quite surprise when Kitty tiredly murmured,

'How much is your cheapest room for a week?'

'$560.' The man had said, looking directly at Kitty. She could tell that he was ripping her off, as the cheaper rooms here were only slightly more than fifty dollars a night, however she also knew that she had no other choice, so she begrudgingly handed over her parent's credit card, which she had taken from her father's wallet two days ago. After she entered the pin and the transaction was complete, she was given the keys and room number.

Quickly she rushed to the tiny room and locked the door. After gently placing her school backpack down on the bed-side table, she walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. She knew that she had to make sure that no bruises were visible under her cheerleading uniform. Unfortunately, she immediately saw a small bruise forming on one of her shoulders and as she turned around she spotted a few on her upper back.

Quickly, she grabbed her parent's credit card and the hotel keys then walked out to find a shop that sold cover-up. As she walked down the street she felt extremely self-conscious, especially since she felt that everyone could see the many bruises that were causing the girl great pain. She desperately hoped that no one would see her in her more vulnerable state. Luckily enough, she stumbled upon a pharmacy after a two minute walk.

After finding a trusted brand, she bought the skin coloured product then began the walk back to the hotel, though not before briefly stopping at an ATM to withdraw some money, just in case her father froze the credit card.

Once Kitty was back in the tiny hotel room, she once again walked into the small bathroom. After a slight hesitation, she finally decided to see the full extent of her father's anger. Cautiously she lifted her Cheerios top off. She couldn't help but let out a surprised gasp as she saw the many bruises that lined her stomach. Quickly, she looked away, not wanting to acknowledge what her parent had done to her.

After a quick shower, Kitty finally lay on the comfortable hotel bed and tried to force herself to fall asleep. As she sleeplessly lay there, she slowly felt the feeling of loneliness overwhelm her. She didn't really have any close friends, her parents didn't even want to see her and she didn't have a boyfriend/girlfriend. Kitty suspected she was bi, although she knew that she'd never date a girl, as her parents could be very homophobic sometimes. Gradually a few stray tears slowly forced themselves out of her eyes, but Kitty quickly wiped them away.

Eventually the extreme emotional trauma of the day overcame the blonde, causing her to fall into a light, restless sleep, filled with nightmares of her parents and the brutal Sue Sylvester.

* * *

Marley was worried about Kitty. What had happened to the girl that would cause a panic attack? Marley (like everyone) had heard that Brittany had replaced her as the Cheerios captain the day but Marley didn't think that that could be the cause. She felt that no one would be that anxious over losing popularity, especially Kitty, who was on top of the school.

As Marley continued to feel a combination of curiosity and extreme worry, she got out her cheap laptop and looked up "What triggers panic attacks". She soon stumbled upon a website that informed her of the internal and external things that could lead to a panic attack like the one Kitty had experienced.

The internal triggers were things like strong emotions, thoughts, memories or even stomach aches, while the external stimuli were smell, temperature/lighting change, sound or a funny taste in the mouth.

After reading the many things that could lead to panic attacks, Marley tried to reassure herself that it was probably just a stomach ache from the disgusting diet-shake that the Cheerios constantly drunk. Marley knew that that probably wasn't the case though, as she had noticed more and more guilt whenever she looked into Kitty's eyes.

'I should find some way to help her,' Marley exclaimed, her thoughts of doubt towards helping the girl deteriorating. However, she knew that she couldn't directly approach Kitty without the risk of being slushied and bullied even more and she didn't want Kitty to up the insults on her mum, or even do something drastic like get her fired. Sighing slightly, Marley sat in deep thought, ideas swirling within her mind.

'Maybe I should simply put an anonymous note in her locker.' Marley finally decided. She knew it wasn't the most create idea ever, but if it had a small chance of helping the girl overcome whatever had caused the panic attack, it would be worth it.

'Now, I simply have to think of what to write.' Marley murmured to herself. Marley began brainstorming but soon realized that without knowing the real reason of the panic attack, she wouldn't know how to help the short girl. She knew she could probably just write something along the lines of 'Are you okay?' but Kitty would probably know who it was from, as she was the only one who had witnessed the panic attack.

'But Kitty doesn't know that.' Marley murmured, an idea forming in her mind. She realized that Kitty wouldn't have noticed if anyone had glanced into the girl's bathroom while she was mid panic attack. Marley knew that the blonde hadn't even noticed her until she was comforting the girl on the floor of the bathroom.

'Hi Kitty,' Marley began to write on a piece of paper, disguising her hand writing to the best of her abilities. 'I saw you having a panic attack with Marley the other day. Are you okay? Would you like to talk about it? Just drop your reply in the loser (glee) club donation box and I'll find it – Anonymous.'

Marley reread the note several times in order to make sure that no one knew it was from her. She hated insulting the club that she loved so much, but she knew it was necessary in order to help the blonde. She desperately hoped that Kitty would reply and that she'd be able to help the popular girl with whatever was troubling her.

'Maybe I can even get her to stop some of the insults!' Marley knew that her chances of that were slim, but she still hoped that Kitty would show the world that she didn't want to hurt anyone. All Marley could do now was hold onto the looks of vulnerability in Kitty's eyes and hope that she replies to her kind note.


	5. Chapter 5

Kitty groaned as she woke up in an unfamiliar location. She was finally feeling the full extent of the aching pain that her father had caused yesterday. As she glanced at the clock in the small hotel room, she saw that it read six forty-five. Unfortunately, she knew that she'd never get back to sleep in the condition she was in. After weakly lying in the comfortable hotel bed for a while, she forced herself to stand and grab a spare cheerio uniform from her bag.

Once the blonde had carefully changed into the short uniform, she grabbed the cover up that she had purchased and began applying it. It took the short girl a lot longer than she thought it would, but eventually she had covered every visible bruise. She was definitely glad that most of them were under her uniform though, as, although the cover-up was good, some of the larger of the dark purple bruises were slightly visible if you squinted.

Once her hair was pulled up into the traditional pony tail, which all the Cheerios wore, she walked out of the hotel room and towards the pharmacy. She desperately needed some strong painkillers. The young teen grimaced as she realised that she had a vigorous cheerleading session afterschool that day. Kitty couldn't help but feel extremely nervous about the session.

'How am I going to regain head cheerleader like this?' She dejectedly asked herself. The girls immediate thought was to try and get coach to cancel the session, but she knew that any sabotage attempts that she would think up (and she could be creative) would not change the insane but dedicated cheerleading coach's mind. The cheerleader knew that many girls had tried to get Sue to cancel the extreme sessions, but none had been successful.

Suddenly, Kitty realized that she had walked past the pharmacy while she had been thinking. The girl quickly turned around to head back towards the large store. Once she had bought the strongest non-prescript painkillers that she could, she began the walk to school, though not before downing two of the pills. She knew she'd be early, but she didn't really care. She could always say that she came early to mock the glee club or something.

Awkwardly, she had underestimated the time that it took to walk, so by the time she stepped into school there were only ten minutes until the bell. With her HBIC mask firmly up, she walked over to her locker to grab her books for period one. As she opened her locker she noticed a small slip of paper sitting on top of her English book. Quickly she picked up the paper and began to read the short message on the paper. It read,

"Hi Kitty, I saw you having a panic attack with Marley the other day. Are you okay? Would you like to talk about it? Just drop your reply in the loser (glee) club donation box and I'll find it – Anonymous". Immediately Kitty looked at the hand writing, trying to determine who sent the mysterious note. It didn't look like any of the Cheerios writing, but it could have been one of the new freshmen. Kitty definitely knew that she couldn't trust the sender of the piece of paper. She knew that whatever she said to them would be used as blackmail.

Stealthily, she glanced around the crowded hallway. Most of the people that Kitty considered losers immediately looked away, as did some of the jocks and cheerleaders. In fact, the only one who didn't was Marley. The two stared at each other for a while. Kitty was surprized to see that Marley actually looked concerned for her. It made Kitty feel a little happy, as she felt as though the taller girl actually cared about her, but she also felt kind of annoyed. How dare this brunette walk in on her when she was vulnerable! Kitty knew that the note wasn't from Marley though, as it insulted the singer's precious glee club. Kitty quickly looked away from Marley and back to the note.

Kitty was very curious as to who the small slip of paper was from, as it was not every day that someone appeared to care about her. The blonde cheerleader decided to simply write "who are you?" on a different piece of paper, then on her way to Geography, she inconspicuously slipped the piece of paper into the donation box of the glee club.

Kitty couldn't help but feel worried about this mysterious note sender. She had thought that only Marley had been there for the panic incident, but apparently someone else had seen. Despite not being head cheerleader, Kitty still ruled the school, but that could easily change if this individual decided to share her panic attack with the school. Kitty knew that she could always deny it or claim that it was just a dumb uncreative rumour, but for all she knew the anonymous person could have recorded it with their phone or something.

* * *

Kitty had managed to successfully get through the school day. No one knew about the bruises that had been painfully inflicted on her, nor the fact that she was living in a cheap hotel room. She had cheerleading practice now though, which could and probably would go horribly wrong. As she began stretching any part of her body that didn't cause her to wince in pain, Sue Sylvester rapidly walked up to her, megaphone in hand.

'You. HBIC. Go to my office and take care of Robin or you're off the squad!' The crazy woman yelled into the speaker device, causing most cheerleaders to cover their ears. Instantly Kitty sprinted towards Sue's office. She was gratefully that Robin was unable to get to sleep or needed feeding, as it saved her from revealing how much pain she was in to the entire cheerleading squad. She knew that she wouldn't be so lucky tomorrow though. She knew she'd eventually have to do the physically demanding routines.

The blonde couldn't let coach see that she was unable to perform the routines. She knew she had to be perfect in order to reclaim her old position. She still longed for her parents' acceptance, and she knew that she would never receive it without being head cheerleader. She groaned with frustration as she began rocking Sue's tiny baby back and forth in an attempt to get the tired child to sleep. She needed the position back and she needed it now.


	6. Chapter 6

As Kitty woke up, she sighed in gratitude. Most of her bruises had stopped hurting, although none of them had begun to fade and the blonde knew that touching any of them would probably cause her to yelp. Gently, she stretched then took some pain-killers. Although she felt much better physically, the intense workout that Cheerios had to complete would definitely cause her body to hurt.

After regular Kitty's morning routine and the applying of cover-up, the blonde called a taxi, as she knew that she'd never be able to walk to school in time. While she waited for the dawdling taxi, she began to practice some of the cheerleading moves that were needed for the complicated and strenuous routine.

She especially was worried about the more complicated moves, so she decided to start overly simple, with a handstand against the hotel wall. Easily, she accomplished this task, then moved on to cartwheels and flips, which she managed to do with minimum strain. She had just about gone over everything when she heard the honking of a taxi horn. Rapidly she grabbed her bag and rushed out of the room and to the cab.

As the girl hopped into the taxi, she felt her defensive walls rising. Quietly she sighed, as she knew that she'd probably be horrible to everyone today. It was what everyone expected from her though, so she supposed that it was a good thing in relation to getting back to her old life, although her insults still made her feel bad, especially whenever she reduced someone to tears.

As she thought of school, she was reminded of the mysterious note of the one who apparently "cared", although Kitty knew that they would just use whatever information she gave them against her. It had happened before, in grade school, and she knew that it would happen again with this anonymous person. She was eager to see there reply though, as she, like most people in the world, liked to feel that someone wanted her and currently she didn't feel that.

Without warning, the cab jerked to a stop, and the short blonde fell forward, only to be stopped by the seat-belt that she had subconsciously put on when she entered the vehicle. Cautiously she got out of the taxi, a scowl on her face. The taxi had arrived at the requested location, McKinley high school, but that didn't stop the automatically furious blonde from telling the cab driver 'How horrible he was at life' and how 'He had a dead-end job'.

Once she had indolently tossed some money at the driver and stormed away, she felt immoral. She supposed that a few days off the insults had made it even harder for her to say them emotionlessly. She couldn't let _anyone_ see that they upset her though. Her reputation could be destroyed by anything now that she was no longer head cheerio. However, Kitty planned to change that by the end of the week.

The blonde knew that in order to reclaim her position, she had to push Brittany off the metaphorical pyramid (or maybe the real one). Kitty knew that she needed it way more than the girl who thought her cat smoked. As an afterthought, Kitty realized that she also _had_ to maintain her grades in this period of homelessness.

'Kitty!' She heard someone hesitantly exclaim, with some fear in their deep voice. It seemed to be a natural reflex for everyone, apart from the braver Cheerios, to be afraid of her. 'You haven't texted me anyone to slushee for the past two days!' The person was revealed to be one of the 'slushee jocks'. Kitty was slightly annoyed by this boy, but soon realized that she needed to slushee more people to prove that she was still the HBIC.

Wearily, Kitty looked around the bustling hallway; she caught eyes with Jacob, two of the kids from the cosplaying club, some debating club member and Marley. She felt bad about slusheeing the taller girl, as she had seen her come to school in slushee stained clothes too many times already. They had, however, made eye contact, meaning Kitty now _had_ to slushee the unpopular girl.

'Slushee Jewfro, the cosplaying losers in the star wars costumes and the debating failure.' Kitty snapped at the boy, leaving Marley out of the slusheeing. She felt good about her "act of mercy" but she was also nervous that someone would found out about it. 'Slushee Jacob many times.' She added, trying to prove that she was a no mercy cheerio.

'He deserves it.' Kitty thought, trying to convince herself that it was okay to slushee the rumour driven boy. 'He was the one who let my parents know about my failure as head cheerio. The others were just in the wrong place.' Kitty justified, her act of mercy promptly forgotten. The guilty cheerleader rapidly stormed away from the clueless jock, eager to get this day over with.

As the girl approached her locker, she noticed that Marley was still staring at her. She felt nervous under the gaze of the brunette.

'She's been staring at you a lot lately, Kitty.' The blonde thought to herself, 'probably because of the panic incident.'

Kitty opened her locker to grab her geography books, when she saw a slip of paper.

'Anon replied.' She mused, curiously unfolding the piece of paper to see how they responded to the 'who are you?' question. The note read 'I'm not a Cheerio or jock, I'm in one of the not-as-popular clubs but I don't want to hurt you. Please reply! I just want to help!'

Kitty smirked at the note. It was a desperate attempt to gain her trust, but that was not earned easily. Still, Kitty wanted to be wanted, so she decided to reply, although she wasn't sure what to write to this anonymous person.

'Maybe whoever wrote this is likes me?' She considered, promptly deciding to write, 'do you have a crush on me?'. Since the note didn't specify where she should leave it, she just decided to drop it in the 'loser' club donation box again. Then it was off to start the school day as the HBIC as well as desperately attempt to reclaim head Cheerio.


	7. Chapter 7

Marley slowly glanced in both directions in order to make sure that the hallway was completely empty. Once she had determined that no one was in sight, she cautiously walked over to the donation box of the glee club and peeked inside. To her surprise (and happiness) another tiny slip of paper sat in the box.

Marley rapidly slipped her hand inside and grabbed the slip of paper, then retreated to the safety of the cafeteria's kitchen. She noticed that her mother was hard at work; creating meatballs to the best of her ability with the horrible low quality meat she had been given. Her mum was continuously sighing as they fell apart, meaning that she had to reshape them. Usually, Marley would go and offer to help her mother, but currently, all she wanted to do was read Kitty's note.

Marley really had no idea as to what Kitty could have written. The brunette hoped that it would be something along the lines of 'I trust you!' but the girl knew that Kitty would never give into her pleas so easily. In reality, Marley expected Kitty to have actually written something along the lines of, 'go away', then compare her to some sort of vermin for staying anonymous.

As Marley finally began unfolding the small piece of paper, she felt her palms begin to sweat. The singer forced herself to take a deep breath then she mentally prepared herself to read what the feisty girl had actually written on the small piece of paper.

'_Do you have a crush on me?_'

Marley simply stared at the note for a minute, a blank expression on her face. She reread the note several times to confirm that Kitty had actually asked about her having a crush; no matter how many times Marley looked over the sentence, it didn't change. She tried to interpret the question in ways other than love, however her attempts weren't successful. Marley had been putting off addressing this topic for as long as she could, but she knew that she now had to face it if she wanted Kitty to reply again.

'Do I have a crush on _Kitty Wilde_?' She thought to herself, fully speaking the topic in her mind, instead of pushing it into the dark corners like she usually did. Marley allowed herself to think about all the things that drew her to the blonde cheerleader. '_She's pretty_' was Marley's first thought about Kitty, followed by '_She's mysterious', 'she needs somebody to help her, she hides away from everyone' and 'I wish she would lean on me. I think I can help her, somehow'_.

None of these thoughts got Marley any closer to discovering if she truly _like_ liked Kitty, or if it was just her natural instinct to help those who were sad.

'You've never gone this far in order to help someone,' a little voice in Marley's head murmured, 'you've never put yourself at risk in this way. You don't know what Kitty's hiding, but if you ever found out, Kitty could probably get your Mum fired or force you to transfer schools! However, you still want to help her!'

Marley knew that the voice was true. The brunette would feel horrible if her Mum was fired due to a desire to help someone, but surely she would understand? Her mother _had_ always told her to try and see the best in people; to comfort them when they were sad. That surely still applied in her teenage years!

'What should I write back?' Marley mused. She still wasn't sure whether she liked the girl, but she knew that there was definitely something there; a hidden spark in the dark patch that was her love life. Marley knew that Kitty would never be honest with her if she herself didn't tell the truth.

'_I think that I might, but I'm not sure. My main priority is to help you._'

Marley looked over what she had written many times. She wasn't sure if this was the right thing to write; if it would cause Kitty to secretly smile, or if it would cause her to fake gag and throw the note into the bin. The brunette knew that Kitty could simply stop replying to these notes at any time, but the more Marley secretly communicated with the blonde, the more she wanted to help her.

'Maybe I should give her my mobile number?' Marley began brainstorming whether there was any way that Kitty could determine who she was based on her phone number. The blonde could call the phone company, but Marley knew that they probably wouldn't release that information without permission. Another way which Kitty could possibly figure it out was if she saw it in someone else's contact list.

'Who has my number?' Marley murmured, rubbing her forehead with aggravation. 'Blaine? Sam? Jake? Most of the glee club except for Sugar and Brittany?'

Marley couldn't think of who else would have it. She knew that Kitty would never even glance at the glee club kids (unless she held a slushie), let alone look at their phones. She believed that it was safe, so she quickly wrote down her number on the back of the paper, then scribbled, 'text me if you ever need to talk'.

Marley hesitantly made her way out of the kitchen and walked into the locker area. It had been about forty minutes since the final bell had rung, which meant the corridors were currently deserted. Marley gradually walked over to Kitty's locker, her feet dragging on the ground as she held the slip of paper with a death-grip.

The hesitant girl stood outside of the Cheerio's locker for about two minute, before realizing that wandering students would be suspicious. She slipped the note in the shorter girl's locker. Instantly she shut her eyes and nervously twitched her fingers, desperately hoping that what she had written was okay. She gradually clenched her hands into loose fists as she forced herself to calmly breathe. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale.

As the brunette walked back to the kitchen to finally help her Mum with the meatballs, she felt butterflies flittering in her stomach. Ever so slightly, she bit her lip. The innocent girl desperately hoped that Kitty would accept her help; that she wouldn't go crazy and ruin both of the Rose's lives.

'Maybe she'd even date you afterwards?' The tiny voice murmured, causing Marley to blush and once again push the thought to the back of her mind. She'd force herself to address her feelings again later.


	8. Chapter 8

'I think I might?' Kitty murmured as she reread the paper, scoffing slightly at the indeterminate answer. The blonde forcefully threw the limp piece of paper back into her locker, watching the light thing slowly twist and turn until it softly landed on her geography text-book.

Just as Kitty was about to slam her locker and head to the popular kids table for lunch, she noticed that the anonymous person's note had something scribbled on the back of it. After squinting at it suspiciously, Kitty extended her arm to grab it.

'A phone number?' Kitty's eyes widened, 'could this be a clue to finding out whomever this intrusive yet caring anon is?'

Rapidly, Kitty whipped out her phone and searched through her contacts, attempting to match the number to those in her phone. She soon determined that this mysterious person didn't lie when they had said that they weren't a cheerleader. Kitty quickly typed the number into her contacts, labelling it as 'scared loser' as she didn't want anyone to be suspicious if they looked through her phone.

Kitty then banged her locker door shut, attracting the attention of a few freshmen, who promptly lowered their gazes in fear of the second-in-command cheerio. The blonde smirked slightly at this, but it did make her feel a little lonely. She quickly shook that feeling away though, as she stormed to the cheerleaders table.

'You. Fat cheeks. Phone.' She yelled at one of the younger cheerios; the blonde felt bad as she saw the girl carefully supressing tears while she grabbed the phone from her backpack. Kitty didn't want to lose any of her popularity in her time of weakness, so she simply smirked at the girl, then snatched the phone, not even offering the girl a thanks.

Kitty felt the entire table silently stare at her as she went through "fatcheeks'" phone. Kitty allowed a glare to slip onto her face, before staring up at the cheerleaders on the table. They quickly turned away from her, most of them finding something interesting on the floor to look at.

Kitty internally let out a sigh at their behaviour. They, as cheerios, were supposed to be her closest friends, yet she felt that even losers like the "loser" club, the "nerd" club and the anonymous person cared for her more. Kitty was not one to show vulnerability though, so once she was done looking through the small girl's phone for anon's number; she threw it back at her and stormed away.

'I don't need those dumb cheerleaders' friendship anyway,' Kitty growled to herself, allowing a familiar annoyance to fill her, 'let them be scared of me!'

Kitty had soon made her way into a random classroom. For a while she just sat there, forcing herself to breathe deeply. Gradually she managed to calm her aggravated breathing into slow controlled breaths.

'Let's see what Anon has to say,' Kitty murmured to herself, allowing an emotional mask to fall over her features. The blonde was still hurt by her lack of real friends, so she decided that she may as well contact the anon; even if they couldn't be trusted, it would be nice to talk to them. Kitty quickly began typing a short message to the one who may-or-may-not like her.

'Hi – Kitty' was all she typed; the blonde still wasn't willing to give much information away to this mysterious person. She didn't want the fact that she had been thrown out getting around the school and she definitely didn't want anyone else to know about her panic attack.

'At least she hasn't blackmailed me with that information yet,' Kitty thought to herself, a grimace enveloping her face as she realised the full extent of this anons' power over her.

* * *

Marley was sitting in glee club; it was one of their compulsory lunch time rehearsals. Currently she was lazily resting her head on her Jake's shoulder. Marley was close friends with the boy; she was probably closest to him out of those in the glee club. She didn't see the boy as more than a friend though, although many people assumed that she did.

The girl felt extreme boredom clouding her eyes as she lazily shut them. Mr Shcue seemed to be drabbling on about disco music. Without warning, Marley's phone beeped, causing her to jump and nearly fall out of her seat. Luckily for the brunette, Mr Schue didn't hear the moderately loud bleep that her phone had emitted. Jake gave her a confused look, but she just politely smiled at him, as she gradually grabbed her phone from her pocket.

As Marley opened her inbox, she carefully angled the phone so that no one other than her could read what was sent; she then opened the text that she had received and read it. Much to her surprise, it was from Kitty! Marley let out a slight gasp, attracting the attention of those around her. After awkwardly sitting with their suspicious stares on her for about a minute, the brunette felt their gazes wonder away from her. Swiftly she typed her reply to the short message she had received from Kitty.

'Hello, Kitty, would you like to talk?' Is what Marley typed; she was glad that Mr Schuester wasn't paying any attention to her, as he would have probably confiscated her phone. Marley's finger only hovered for a second before she pressed the send button and allowed her text to reach Kitty's phone.

Marley suddenly felt very awake; she sat up straight as nervousness bubbled in her stomach. _What shall Kitty say? _The brunette hoped that Kitty wouldn't push the fact that she had said that she may have a crush on the shorter girl. Marley was really confused about that still; she felt that she couldn't really talk to anyone about it, as this was kind of a secret mission.

'There's got to be someone I can talk to!' Marley exclaimed in her head, going through a mental list of everyone she trusted. Eventually she had crossed out everyone on the list; Marley felt negativity filling her. The brunette hated this feeling, so she quickly allowed positive thoughts to fill her mind,

'Could I be making progress?' She thought to herself, a small smile gracing her face.


	9. Chapter 9

Kitty was lying on the bed of the hotel she was staying at. The girl groaned slightly as the faulty lights begun to fade once again, shrouding her in darkness. She hated that they had given her one of the worst rooms; although she understood why, as she _had_ asked for the cheapest room that they had.

As the lights slowly flickered back on, Kitty allowed herself to take a few deep breaths. The girl then reached over to her bag, pulling out her phone to see if the anonymous person had replied. Kitty's eyes quickly scanned over the short text which she had received.

'How much did you see of the panic attack?' Kitty decided to reply, trying to see how much this person actually knew. As the blonde sent the text, the lights once again faded, causing her to grit her teeth.

'I'd rather take care of a thousand crying babies than stay here another night.' She muttered in frustration, although she knew that this wasn't true; after taking care of Robin, she had decided to never to have kids. Ever.

Kitty suddenly heard a loud beeping sound, as her phone lit up, showing the dark room with a little light. Kitty couldn't help but snap her eyes shut, nearly dropping the phone in her attempt to get the overly bright light away from her eyes. Rapidly she adjusted the brightness on her phone, allowing her to read the message.

'You were sitting on the ground in Marley's arms, I left soon after.' Is what the text read. Kitty grimaced a little, deciding to change the topic with this mysterious person.

'At least they didn't see _that_ much.' Kitty sighed, a bitter-sweet smile appearing on her face as the lights begun to flicker on once again.

'Who are you?' Kitty decided to type, before hitting send. The blonde honestly didn't expect the person to reveal their name; however, she knew that they'd probably _at least_ give her a clue.

A minute passed with no reply, so instead of lying on the bed and doing nothing, Kitty stood up and headed into the bathroom. The girl had been avoiding looking at her bruises for several days, but decided that it had to be done at some time.

Carefully she lifted up her cheerio's top just enough to see her stomach and ribs. None of the bruises that her father had inflicted on her hurt any more, but they were still present; a constant reminder of her failure of being head cheerio. As her gaze deepened, she focused on some of the smaller ones. She allowed a small smile to grace her face as she noticed that they had started fading; although the girl did know that they'd take another week or two to fully disappear.

The girl jumped slightly as she heard a familiar beeping coming from her room. Swiftly, she lowered her top and returned to the small bedroom, instantly picking up her phone, while simultaneously trying to forget about the bruises.

'You'd hate me if I told you.' Was all that was written. Kitty sighed as she flopped down onto her bed. As much as the lonely cheerio liked the attention of this caring person, she hated the uncertainty that they brought in their anonymous messages.

'I suppose they can't be all that bad if they're not a jock or cheerio though,' Kitty sighed, thinking of all of her 'friends' that had stopped hanging around her when she lost her head cheerio status.

'Who could this person be?' She asked herself with combination of wonder and frustration. Slowly she took a deep breath before brainstorming the identity of this person.

'It's not any of the cheerio's or jock's,' she sighed, 'it wouldn't even be a guy, would it?...' Kitty trailed off, suddenly feeling nervous as she realised that whoever had seen her panic incident would have been walking into the girl's bathrooms.

'Are you a girl?' She quickly typed, pressing send without hesitation. The blonde knew that she liked girls, she identified as bi, although sometimes she believed that she only felt attraction to girls. Unfortunentely the blonde knew that her parents would never accept her dating a girl, especially if they were willing to throw her out of the house for being downgraded in a high school cheerleading team.

'Why is life so unfair!' Kitty shouted, a sudden rage filling her body. The girl punched the bed in frustration, attempting to let out her rage in a physical way instead of the usual endless insults to those around her. Her instinct to insult that anonymous person still rose, however the girl resisted her urge.

'Just breath, Kitty.' She murmured to herself, desperately using her will power to slow her aggravated breathing. 'Inhale, exhale.' She whispered, as she felt her tense body begin to relax. As the sudden burst of anger begun to subsided, the girl stood up, grabbing a glass and heading over to the tap.

After what felt like an eternity the girl managed to turn the stiff tap, causing water to begin flowing into her glass. When the cup was close to full the girl pulled it away from the tap, knowing that it would take a lot more effort to turn it off.

'Another thing to add to the "things I hate about this hotel room" list,' she sighed, as she attempted to use both hands in order to turn off the tap. After about a minute of tugging on it, the girl had made progress, however, she still couldn't manage to make it stop dripping.

'Good. Enough.' Kitty exclaimed, gritting her teeth. Carefully she grabbed the glass of water and gratefully sipped it; the coolness of the water instantly brightened her mood, however she was still less than happy.

Once the girl had drained the contents of the cup, she walked back over to the bed. As she grabbed her phone she realised that the anonymous person had already replied. The text was only one word long, yet it confirmed Kitty's thoughts.

'Yes', was what the text read.

'So the anon's a girl?' Kitty questioned to no one in particular. 'And they think that they might like me.' The girl let out a deep breath that she didn't know that she was holding. 'I just hope that she doesn't actually have a crush on, as she'll only receive heart-break with my parents around.'

As Kitty glanced at the cheap digital clock on the bedside table next to her, she realised that it was already after eleven. The girl groaned, as she knew that she had cheerleading at five-fourtyfive the next morning.

As the girl changed into some cheap pyjamas which she had bought from a small run-down shop, she grabbed her phone. For a moment she debated on whether she should continue texting this person, however, that thought was soon banished. The girl quickly typed 'good night' and sent it the mysterious female.

'At least I've narrowed it down.' Was all Kitty thought before she drifted off into a light, dreamless sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

'Sloppy!' Sue Sylvester yelled for the thousandth time that morning.

The cheerios had once again gone through their routine; In Kitty's opinion is was very close to perfect, although Sue Sylvester seemed to disagree. Kitty let out a silent sigh as she prepared herself for the lashing that all the cheerios were sure to get.

'Brittany, Madison, you both turned in the wrong direction.' Sue snapped, venom in her voice and a glare on her face.

Kitty couldn't help but gasp slightly; could this be her chance to reclaim head cheerio? The girl knew that she had been demoted due to the fact that she had spun the wrong way, so she presumed that Brittany would be too. The short cheerio just hoped that she would be the one who Sue promoted.

'Everyone twenty laps around the field!' Kitty heard her coach bellow. The blonde took a deep breath before obeying Sue's orders and beginning her laps. Around and around the field she ran, determined to finish before all other girls; she had to prove that she was the best cheerio.

When the girl finished, she was half a lap ahead of the next fastest cheerio. She smirked slightly, one hand resting on her hip as she waited for the rest of the girls to finish running. Her smirk only grew as everyone finally finished and Sue yelled at them to get out of her sight. Instantly everyone complied, all rushing towards the school building.

'Kitty. Brittany. You get back here.' Sue yelled through her megaphone. Instantly Kitty spun around, her heart beginning to beat rapidly.

'Please tell me I'm head cheerio again,' Kitty murmured to herself. Externally the cheerio held her confident smirk, although internally she felt that a million butterflies were flittering in her stomach.

'Brittany. Last week I demoted Kitty due to the horrible incompetence of spinning the wrong way,' Sue stated, 'you did the exact same thing today. Not only that, but Kitty did a better job in general. Kitty, you're head again, now go feed my baby.'

Kitty internally rejoiced as Brittany handed over the cheerios jacket that said 'captain' on the back; although the blonde did feel a little bad when she saw Brittany tear up. She wouldn't let this affect her though; she knew that she couldn't show any mercy now that she was the HBIC again.

'Lord Tubbington said that I was doing such a good job,' she heard Brittany sigh as they both walked towards the school, 'although he might have just being saying that so he could continue to smoke.'

Kitty forced herself to cruelly smirk at the older girl, then strut off, eager to bask in the popularity and social acceptance that head cheerio brought. She knew that her parents would be proud of her; even if it was just for a short time. She'd be considered worthy of their love; not just a failure who couldn't do anything in life.

'Hey Kitty,' the girl heard a cheerio timidly whisper, 'I'm having this party next week and I was wondering if you could make an appearance.'

'If it fits my schedule I'll be there,' Kitty exclaimed, dismissing the girl with a wave of her hand. She knew that her father probably wouldn't allow her to attend, but she acknowledged the fact that rejecting wouldn't put her in a positive social light.

As the blonde cheerleader walked to her locker she realised that other cheerleaders were following her; obviously eager to get into her posse and boost their own social statuses. Kitty suddenly felt the rising pressure to insult the lowly people around her.

Kitty quickly looked around the hallway. Since there was about half-an-hour until school started, the only non-cheerio in the hall was the cafeteria-lady's daughter, Marley Rose. Kitty supposed that she and her Mum had to get to school early to start making the food for the day.

Kitty was about to look away from the brunette, as she _had_ helped when the blonde was having a panic attack; however, she saw the cheerios that surrounded her beginning to look at her expectantly.

'You're fat gene is really showing today, loser,' kitty shouted, immediately cringing at her cruel comment.

'No mercy Kitty,' she quickly thought, 'you want your parents to love you, don't you?'

'Now, why don't you run to that three-nippled boyfriend of yours, the exercise should at least put off the fat gene's dominance for another two minutes.' Kitty saw puppy dog eyes appear on the brunette's face as the taller girl's eyes begun to tear up, 'or go back to your whale of a mum, who is probably already stuffing her oversized face with tater tots.'

Kitty saw the brunette quickly slam her locker door shut and run away, a muffled sob escaping from her lips.

'Good one Kitty.' One of the cheerios smirked, while the others cruelly laughed at her comments.

Kitty simply gave them a fake smile; internally the girl felt half-hearted. This girl, who was far from fat, had helped her while she was struggling to breathe, and she had mercilessly insulted her in return.

'No mercy,' she desperately thought to herself, although this time it was more of a gloomy statement instead of a confident one.

Carefully the blonde turned away from the other socially-high people, making sure that she held everyone's attention. She then stormed away in order to feed Sue's baby. The girl couldn't help but feel glad to get away from the other cheerleaders, as she knew that they were only fake friends anyway.

* * *

Kitty inhaled deeply as she stood in front of her parent's house. The girl felt butterflies flitter in her stomach as she glanced at her phone. It was eight o'clock; Kitty knew that if she was too late her parents probably wouldn't let her in. She just hoped that she wouldn't interrupt their dinner or anything like that.

The girl carefully extended her arm to ring the door bell. For a moment she hesitated, however, after gulping slightly she pressed the small button. Instantly Kitty heard the music of the doorbell ringing throughout her house.

For a moment after that, all she heard was silence from within the house, but the blonde soon heard thumping footsteps coming from the other side of the door. The girl quickly stood up straight as she heard one of her parents open the door.

'Kitty,' Her Mum stated, a large smile on her face. Kitty was honestly unsure as to whether it was real or fake, although knowing her Mum it was probably fake. 'Come in.'

Quickly Kitty walked into the house, attempting to portray herself as confident, despite feeling as if she was going to throw up from nerves.

'Kitty.' Her father stated as she walked into the lounge room. Kitty saw that his expression was neutral, although she could see the corners of his lips turning down slightly, 'I see that you're head cheerleader again. There is still the issue of the B in English, but you're allowed to stay here.' He paused for a second before snapping, 'now go study, I don't want you to be an even bigger failure than you already are.'

Immidietely Kitty obediently nodded and rushed to her room. She was glad that her father appeared to not be _that_ angry with her. She quickly shut the door of her room, not even bothering to turn the lights on. After gently placing her backpack on the ground, she collapsed on her bed. It felt extremely soft compared to the small hotel bed that she had been sleeping on for the past week.

'I should text the anonymous person,' Kitty suddenly murmured.

Kitty couldn't help but feel disappointed as she saw that the person hadn't texted her yet. The blonde quickly started a new text, eager to tell this mysterious girl about her day. Kitty presumed that this person already heard about her promotion to head cheerio, but she felt the need to tell them over text, just in case they hadn't.

'I'm head cheerleader again :D I'm feeling happier today.' Is what Kitty wrote. She realised that it sounded kind of stupid; however she remembered that the person seemed to want her to be happy, so she decided to send it.

Due to the early morning cheerio's practise Kitty was exhausted, but she didn't want to sleep until she saw the mysterious female's reply. Every time the blonde felt her eyes drooping she forced herself to snap awake; however, it became harder and harder as the minutes passed by. After an hour of no response, the exhausted girl couldn't force herself to stay awake any longer.

'Why didn't she reply,' was all Kitty sadly whispered then drifted into a deep sleep, a grimace on her face.


	11. Chapter 11

Kitty woke up with a start, instantly confused as to where she was; it took her about a minute to realise that she was in her own bed. Immidietely Kitty felt the pressure to be perfect rise. The girl inhaled deeply before getting out of bed in order to begin getting ready for school.

Once the short blonde had brushed her hair to absolute perfection, and made sure that the uniform that she was wearing had no creases or wrinkles, she grabbed her school bag. Carefully she rummaged through it, trying to determine whether she had everything necessary for that school day.

"My phone!" She exclaimed as she realised that it was lying on the floor next to her bed. Suddenly the girl heard her heart beating louder, as she scrunched her eyebrows.

"What did the anon say?" She whispered to herself as she picked up the expensive phone. She quickly checked her inbox, only to see that the mysterious girl _still _hadn't replied. "Why has she stopped texting me! I thought she said that she wanted me to talk to her."

Kitty wasn't sure whether to be extremely angry, or extremely disappointed; although the blonde's parents had taught her that being sad and vulnerable was something she should _never _do, so the blonde naturally focused on her frustrations. Angrily, the girl begun typing a new text message; although this one was addressed to the jock who lead the slushie attacks.

'Slushie everyone in the loser club, and everyone in geek club.' Was what she wrote, not even hesitating before sending the text. Kitty couldn't help but frown as she _still_ felt the sadness clawing at her heart.

"Kitty, you said that you wouldn't trust this person," she sighed to herself, allowing her eyelids to flutter shut as she felt her anger subside, "and she said that she wouldn't hurt you," the volume of her voice decreasing until it was barely audible.

The girl then grabbed her bag, masking her hurt to the best of her ability. Carefully she made sure that a confident smirk graced her face, before leaving in order to get to school on time.

* * *

Marley looked at her phone again, rereading the text as she contemplated whether she should reply or not.

"I feel happier today?" Marley mumbled as she read the text to herself, "that makes one of us." The brunette dejectedly sighed as she gently placed the phone in her locker.

"I just don't understand Kitty." Marley grumbled to herself. "I know she's hurting and pushing it onto everyone else, but why? And why is she so horrible to me and my Mum? And why do I somehow still have a little crush on her?" The last part was quietly whispered, as the brunette felt herself lower her gaze.

Marley slammed her locker shut as she felt the sting of what Kitty had said yesterday wash over her once again. Sadly, she took a deep breath, before muttering, "I really thought I was making progress. I thought I was getting through to her in some way."

Marley was about to walk towards the cafeteria kitchen, when she saw a footballer approach her. Instantly the girl's instincts screamed for her to run, but for some reason she felt as if she was glued to the spot.

"This is from Kitty, loser." Was all the boy exclaimed before throwing the bright orange drink he had been holding into her face.

With lightning fast reflexes, Marley managed to shut her eyes, glad that she had prevented the cold drink from causing her eyes to sting.

"K-k-kitty?" Marley stammered at the jock, causing him to raise his eyebrows, obviously thinking she was insane, before nodding slightly and walking back in the direction of the slushie machine.

Marley took a deep breath, allowing her eyes to flutter shut before she shakily exhaled. As the girl was taking another calming breath she heard her phone beep from inside her locker. Hesitantly she reopened the locker, hoping that the text was from her Mum or one of the glee clubbers.

"Why have you suddenly stopped responding?" The text was from Kitty. Marley decided to actually reply to this one.

"Why did _you _tell that jock to slushie me?" Marley sent the bitter text without hesitation. The brunette knew that she wasn't thinking straight, due to the freezing slushie that was running down her face, but she was suddenly _extremely_ frustrated with Kitty.

"I tried to be nice, but all she did was insult and slushie me in return." Marley knew that Kitty didn't know that she was the mysterious texter; yet the brunette _did_ know that Kitty saw her during and after the panic attack.

Marley quickly placed the phone back into her locker, biting her lip gently as she grabbed some spare clothes and begun the humiliating journey to the nearest bathroom. Marley couldn't help but scowl as a cheerio begun laughing at her.

As Marley continued to walk down the narrow corridor she saw Kitty; the blonde was surrounded by many other cheerios, however, the blonde was staring at her phone while those around her gossiped.

Marley tried to quickly sneak past the popular girl; she definitely didn't want to be anywhere near Kitty right now. As the slushie-covered brunette walked past the popular group with her head lowered towards the ground, she couldn't help but glance towards the short blonde.

Marley gulped slightly as the blonde's eyes met hers. The brunette felt that time was slowing down as neither girl dared to look away. Marley saw that Kitty's eyebrows were scrunched up, and a small grimace graced her face. Kitty's eyes were also half-closed, almost as if she was trying not to tear up.

Marley quickly snapped her gaze away from the blonde's as she heard the sound of cruel laughter coming from the other cheerios. Quickly Marley sprinted away, eager to change into her clean clothes.

Once Marley had entered the bathroom she allowed herself to think back to what had just happened.

"That's why I helped her in the first place, because of the sad look in her eyes." Marley whispered to herself. She knew that it would take her a while to forgive Kitty this time, but the girl hated seeing the blonde so sad. She would keep texting her; even if the brunette had negative things to say, which, judging by Kitty's current behaviour, would be a lot.

"Why am I so forgiving?" Marley sighed as she left the bathroom, "although I'm still angry," she quickly reminded herself, a half-grimace gracing her face.

* * *

Kitty sighed as she walked through the bustling hallway. Regret was stabbing at her heart, causing her to snap at everyone and everything around her. She was glad that the other cheerios had taken the hints to leave her alone, despite the fact that she had phrased it in a rather insulting manor.

"Jewfro. Get over here!" Kitty yelled at the senior boy as she suddenly caught sight of him. In about half-a-second Jacob had sprinted over to her, shaking slightly as his eyes widened in fear.

"Do you know who this is?" Kitty exclaimed, showing the anonymous person's number to him.

"N-no?" Was all he managed to stutter. Kitty couldn't help but let out a quiet grunt of frustration. The blonde quickly took a step forward, causing the older boy to flinch slightly.

"Well. Go. Find. Out. " She stated, emphasising each word. "They're either in glee club or computer club and they're a girl," the blonde added before dramatically turning and storming away. Briefly she stopped, only to turn and exclaim, "Don't tell _anybody_ about this, or you may find a rumour that you have two disgusting belly buttons floating around." The boy gulped slightly, knowing that an even smaller amount of girls would want to date him if Kitty ever spread that rumour.

Kitty couldn't help but sigh when she was once again alone. She hadn't meant to hurt the anonymous person who appeared to care for her; it wouldn't have happened if she had have know who it was. She hadn't even meant to hurt anyone in the glee or computer club.

Sometimes Kitty hated that her decisions were so hated based, especially when her victims looked her in the eyes, like Marley had done earlier; the blonde hated seeing the hurt, fear, and defeat in their eyes when she knew that she was the cause of it. Kitty couldn't help but feel frustrated with herself as she realised that Marley's eyes had been shinning with betrayal earlier that day.

"No mercy, remember." She bitterly muttered to herself, gritting her teeth slightly, as she forced a cocky smile onto her face. Slowly she forced herself to walk to class, hating that her parents expected her to be perfect at everything.

"I'll find out who the anon is soon." Kitty whispered, as she once again read the hurt-filled text that the anonymous girl had sent.


	12. Chapter 12

"Jacob!" Kitty shouted into the bustling hallway, instantly causing everyone to turn her way. For a brief second everyone was silent, as they saw the burning of determination in the blonde's eyes; a second later, someone had pushed Jacob in front of the short cheerleader.

"This way." She murmured to him as she walked towards an empty classroom, glaring at everyone who was so much as glancing at her. The girl couldn't help but smirk as she saw the terrified boy Immidietely comply, following her like baby duckling would to its mother. The girl knew that if she suddenly stopped, the boy would walk right into her. The cheerleader wasn't going to do that though, as she _needed_ to know who the anon was.

Kitty soon entered the classroom, slamming the door shut as soon as the boy had set foot in the area. Carefully, the blonde observed his appearance; a look of horror graced his face, his eyebrows raised and his forehead wrinkled. Kitty could see that his palms were sweaty as he rubbed his hands together, biting his lip as a silence fell between them.

"Well?" Kitty exclaimed, raising her left eyebrow. The girl felt butterflies begin to flitter in her stomach. "Who owns that number?"

For a while he just stood there, shaking slightly at the blonde's intimidating presence. Eventually, he managed to stutter out, "I-I-I don't know yet."

Kitty took a deep breath as rage flared in her eyes, although internally the girl felt hollow and upset.

"I have cheerios until six tonight. When I'm finished you better be here and you better know, Jewfro." Kitty's tone had started out as demanding, but no matter how hard the blonde tried to maintain that pitch, the sound of disappointment slipped into her voice. "Understand?" The blonde's eyes narrowed.

"Yes." Jacob instantly squeaked, his voice higher than Kitty thought any males could be.

The blonde nodded at the boy, instantly causing him to scurry away. Once he had run out of the room, Kitty quickly shut the door, allowing the silence to increase the feeling of disappointment that was bubbling in her stomach.

"Who is this person?" Kitty suddenly growled, taking out her phone and reading all their texts, flinching slightly at the latest, anger-filled one.

Sighing slightly, the girl made her way out of the classroom, hoping that the mindless flock of cheerios would distract her from the texter.

* * *

Jacob stealthily made his way through the corridor, jumping at every sudden movement. Saying that Kitty scared him was definitely an understatement. The boy knew how much power she had; how everyone now believed that Jake Puckerman had a gross third nipple thanks to her.

As stealthily as the boy could, he looked around the hallway, hoping to find someone in either the glee club, or the computer club. After glancing around for several minutes, he spotted Tina, standing by her locker with her phone out. Carefully, he tiptoed up to the Asian girl.

"Hello, Tina," he stuttered, causing her to turn to him, a look of distaste on her face as she saw who it was.

"What do you want, Jacob?" She sighed, a grimace settling on her face.

"I-i-i was j-just wondering if I could borrow your phone?" He paused for a second before exclaiming, "to call my Mum!" Tina stared at him for a long time, raising her left eyebrow slightly. Jacob could tell that she was going to say 'no'. Quickly thinking, he added, "I know secrets about you that you don't want posted on the school website."

He Immidietely saw worry flicker into Tina's eyes; he was glad that she had fallen for his bluff, as he didn't actually have any 'dirt' about her currently.

"Just be quick." The girl grimaced, as she threw her phone at him. Quickly Jacob turned around, making sure that Tina couldn't see that he was going threw her contacts. The terrified boy internally recited the number Kitty had given him, scanning threw Tina's contacts for all glee and computer club girls.

"Motta, Sugar?" He questioned to himself, letting out a sigh as the number didn't match. "Rose, Marley?" The boy couldn't help but gasp as he saw that the numbers matched.

"I'm safe from Kitty." He gratefully whispered as he called his home number, so as not to make Tina even more suspicious than she already was.

* * *

Kitty was panting by the time cheerios practice was over. She knew that she had pushed herself harder than she should, but the blonde didn't know what her parents would do to her if she lost the position again; the blonde couldn't help but shudder at the thought.

Once the girl had calmed her erratic breathing, and Sue had yelled about how horrible they all were, Kitty started walking back towards the school. Now that cheerios was done, she was going to the classroom to meet Jacob.

As she continued her journey there, she started to doubt whether he'd be there, and whether he'd found out who her Anon was. She knew that he was scared of her, but was that enough? Kitty desperately hoped so.

Finally, the cheerleader arrived at the classroom, slamming the door open as she overdramatically entered. Immidietely she looked around the room; finding Jacob sitting on the floor.

"Stand." Kitty forcefully commanded as she bit her lip gently; instantly the boy was on his feet. "Have you found out who owned that number?"

The boy nodded as Kitty took a step towards him. The blonde felt butterflies beginning to flutter in her stomach again, as she silently gulped. The internally-nervous blonde gave him a confident, expectant look as she took another step forward; her nervousness increasing as the seconds passed by.

"Marley Rose." He exclaimed, stuttering slightly. Kitty's eyes widened at this. It _couldn't_ be Marley Rose, could it?

"Leave," she commanded. The boy didn't need to be asked twice before he sprinted out of the door.

"Marley Rose?" Kitty whispered to herself, a poker face gracing her features. "The cafeteria lady's daughter who saw me having the panic attack?"

The blonde was unsure as to how she should react to this revelation. Kitty simply took a deep breath, weakly attempting to calm her rapidly beating heart, as she begun walking towards her car; the teenager knew that she _had_ to confront Marley tomorrow.


	13. Chapter 13

"Marley Rose." Kitty bluntly exclaimed, causing the unaware brunette to jump in fright. Quickly Marley spun around, stumbling back slightly as she realised who had spoken.

"K-K-Kitty?" The brunette stammered, standing up straight as her fingers twitched with nervousness. The taller girl desperately hoped that Kitty didn't have a slushie hidden anywhere; she stupidly hadn't packed a change of clothes today.

"Come with me," the blonde whispered. Marley couldn't help but hesitate as the shorter girl begun to walk away. The brunette knew that the blonde could be leading her anywhere; there could be a large slushie attack waiting for her around the corner, or some jocks could throw her into the dumpster.

Marley felt herself gulp quietly as Kitty spun to once again face her. For a moment the shorter girl shut her eyes, letting out a shaky sigh that most would not hear; however Marley heard. The cheerleader then stormed up to the brunette, gently grabbing her wrist and tugging her down the hallway

"Where are we going?" Marley whispered to the blonde as they continued through the corridor. Kitty didn't bother to reply, as she quickly let go of the brunette's wrist and opened the door of the smallest Janitor's closet; the only one without any windows.

"We need to..." Marley saw that Kitty was struggling to find the correct word; the blonde bit her lip gently, before finally stuttering out, "talk."

Marley once again gulped, nervously biting her own lip as she stumbled into the closet. Immidietely Kitty followed the brunette in, slamming the door shut and enveloping both girls in the dark.

"So," Kitty begun, pausing for a moment to take a deep breath, "you kind of like me?"

"W-what?" Marley stuttered out, a feeling of dread entering her stomach as she begun fiddling with her hands. The brunette had rapidly decided to play innocent; she didn't understand how Kitty could know that the anonymous texter was her. "I d-don't know what you're talking about."

As Marley's vision adjusted to the dark room, she saw Kitty's eyes soften; the brunette felt herself relax ever so slightly.

"Thanks," the blonde whispered, before her eyes hardened again. The blonde then added, "for the messages or whatever."

"What messages?" Marley's voice rose in volume as she continued to insist that she didn't know what Kitty was talking about.

The taller girl saw Kitty take out her phone; the light of the electrical device illuminating the small coset as she pressed the on button. It took Marley a second to realise that Kitty was typing something. The brunette saw Kitty tap one last time before looking up at her. Immidietely a beeping sound came from the direction of Marley's phone.

"That's probably..." Marley hesitated for a second before weakly whispering, "my mum?"

"Let's see, shall we?" Kitty exclaimed, a nervous edge in her usually demanding voice.

Shakily, Marley reached out to grab her phone from her pocket. The brunette felt embarrassed as Kitty saw the old, cheap phone she had.

Gradually the brunette opened her inbox, shutting her eyes in defeat as she saw that the only unread text she had was from Kitty.

"Why?" Marley heard Kitty mumble, as the blonde let out a sigh. "I'm horrible to you."

Marley was honestly surprised that Kitty had admitted that. On the rare occasions that someone accused Kitty of being a 'horrible bully' or a 'bitch' she would deny it, while insulting the person further.

"You looked sad." Marley squeaked out, unsure as to how Kitty would respond.

For a while a silence fell between the two; Kitty was thinking while Marley was nervously standing there, nibbling on her lip slightly.

"You don't know anything about me." Kitty finally stated, shutting her eyes and shaking her head. "I..." Kitty begun to speak again, but quickly paused. Marley couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in curiosity. "You just shouldn't... It's best if..."

Marley interest steadily rose as Kitty continuously stumbled over her words. As the blonde continued to fail to communicate, the brunette realised what a small space the two were in. The girl was just glad that she wasn't claustrophobic.

"I appreciate that you tried to help me." Kitty finally spoke a complete sentence, "I really do but..." Marley couldn't help but let out a quiet, frustrated sigh as the blonde once again hesitated.

"If you want me to stop, I will," Marley decided to whisper, curious as to how the blonde would respond.

"Well," Kitty begun, before once again becoming silent. Eventually, Marley realised that the blonde was staring into space; obviously in deep thought.

"My parents would never let me be friends with Marley." The blonde thought, letting out a sigh as she glanced up at the confused brunette. "But I don't want my life to be the same as before the anon thing started. I liked the feeling of being wanted by Marley."

"We could still text?" The blonde meekly stuttered out, emotionally bracing herself for rejection. The brunette's eyebrows Immidietely rose at this; she didn't expect Kitty to say that. "I won't slushie you or anything."

"O-ok." The brunette managed to stutter out though her shock.

"And one last thing." The blonde whispered, subconsciously looking around the dark closet. "I'm sorry about what I said about your mum."

"You are?" Marley mumbled, causing the blonde to nod.

"Just don't tell anyone I said that." The cheerleader added, sighing as she was reminded of the fact that she _had _to be popular. "Also, you're a very pretty girl. I'm sorry I implied otherwise."

Marley suddenly realised that she and Kitty were standing really close to one another, due to the small amount of space in the closet. The brunette didn't know what suddenly overcame her, but the fact that the 'heartless' HBIC had just complimented her gave her confidence; quickly she felt herself lean forward and kiss Kitty on the lips.

For a moment Marley felt Kitty kiss back; she felt the blonde smile, but an instant after that Kitty's hands were on her shoulders, pushing her away.

"I can't... You can't..." Kitty stammered out, before saying, "I just can't," and rushing out.

"Why did you do that, Marley?" The girl frustrated Immidietely questioned herself, gently hitting the wall of the small closet. "Why?"

Marley weakly sighed as she left the small closet, walking to class with her shoulders drooping.

* * *

Kitty let out a quiet sob as she locked herself in one of the bathroom stalls; she couldn't believe that Marley just decided to spontaneously kiss her.

What scared Kitty about the kiss was that she actually felt something. Even in the very short time that it took the blonde to push the taller girl off, she had felt more than she had with any of the boys that her Mum had instructed her to date and kiss.

"You have to forget about it, Kitty," she meekly whispered to herself, knowing that she'd be thrown out again if her parents ever heard of what happened. The blonde was glad that only her and Marley had been there to witness it.

Quickly the blonde whipped out her phone, texting 'don't tell anyone about it' to the brunette. The cheerleader then fought to keep her wild emotions in check, making sure that a confident smirk graced her face as she exited the bathroom. The blonde quickly ran to class, knowing how angry (and violent) her parents would be if she was late.

The blonde made it just as the bell was ringing, flicking open the door in the dramatic 'I'm more popular than you' way. Rapidly she sat down, grateful that the girl who had kissed her wasn't in this class; she knew that she could attempt to burry herself in the work instead of allow her mind to constantly wonder back to what happened.

"Class, we're having a pop quiz today." The teacher exclaimed as he walked into the class, two minutes late.

Kitty felt horror clawing at her stomach at this announcement. She had been completely neglecting this subject due to being homeless for a little over a week.

"You _have _to do well on this history test, Kitty," the girl internally yelled at herself, weakly attempting to recall anything she had learned.

Quickly she attempted to look at her text book, trying to cram as much information as she could into her brain.

"Text book away, Kitty," the teacher exclaimed with a disapproving glance, as he placed the test on her desk. Kitty rolled her eyes at him, trying to maintain her 'I'm the coolest person in the room' vide, while internally falling apart with worry. "You have the whole class, students."

Kitty quickly read the first question, gulping as she tried to recall the many wives of King Henry VII. She knew that one of them was named Anne, or was it Anna? Kitty really couldn't remember. She quickly moved onto question 2, trying to recall anything she could about the Renaissance period in time.

By the time the blonde had read the final question she was nearly in tears. So far she had left about half the test blank, and had pretty much guessed the rest. The blonde only knew the answers to seven questions in the thirty question test.

Finally the fifty minutes class was over. Kitty couldn't help but bite her lip as she hesitantly walked out of the room. She knew how quick of a marker this teacher was; that he'd probably e-mail her parents the failing grade by sixth period today.

The blonde made her way into the empty janitor's closet; the one in which Marley and her had spoken and kissed earlier that day. The girl gently closed the door and locked it, before sliding down the wall until she was sitting on the cold, hard floor; hugging her legs to her chest.

"How can I go home and face my parents; they're going to _kill _me." Kitty felt a sob force its way through her thought. The girl knew that most people used that term in a figurative sense, but she almost felt as if it was literal. The girl couldn't help but allow silent tears to run down her face.

The day had been overwhelming enough with her talk with Marley. The kiss had scared her enough, but her definite failure of the test had pushed her over the edge. Kitty felt as if she was almost breaking inside; she just hoped that her father would have mercy on her when she got home.

"Come on, Blondie, pull yourself together." The cheerleader stated through gritted teeth, knowing that she'd have to go back out and be the perfect head-cheerleader for the rest of the day.

The girl also knew that she'd take her fear and upset out on everyone around her; it's what she had always done. The blonde identified that she would almost definitely regret it later, but she was too tired to prevent herself from automatically lashing out at everyone around her.

"I should stay away from Marley," the blonde quietly mused as she wiped away the last of her tears and left the janitor's closet, perfectly acting out her normal, confident façade. "She was nice to me; I don't want to hurt her."

The blonde knew that her automatic lashing out would almost definitely be directed at Marley if she and the brunette were seen together. She hated that people considered the taller girl an ugly loser; Kitty currently believed that the girl was the kindest in the school. The fact that the brunette had gone out of her way to try and make the blonde feel better had completely changed the latter's view on her.

The exhausted girl suddenly felt something vibrate in her pocket; her phone. Quickly she realised that Marley had texted her back. The blonde let out a sigh of relief as she read the two word reply, 'I won't'. The fact that the brunette wouldn't tell anyone about the kiss felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders; the girl knew that her parents couldn't find out.

"I better get to class," Kitty gasped as she realised that she was already late. "I suppose this doesn't even matter, they're going to kill me anyway." The blonde allowed a weak sigh to escape her lips as she quickly rushed to her locker, and then to her period 2 English class.

* * *

Kitty was trembling slightly as she grabbed the house keys out of her bag. The girl had briefly considered staying at a hotel for the night, only to realise that she didn't have any money on her.

"You had to come home sometime, Kitty. You were the one who failed; you brought it on yourself" The girl whispered to herself. Slowly, she shakily inserted her key into the lock and turned it, biting her lip as she desperately hoped that her parents would go easy on her.


	14. Chapter 14

Kitty walked in, shivering slightly as the sudden warmth of the house caused her to realize how cold she was. The girl couldn't help but begin nervously fiddling with her fingers as she walked down the corridor that led to the living room. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she finally stumbled into the room in which Greg was.

As soon as the blonde set foot in the space, her father turned to stare at her. "Anything you want to tell me about, Kitty?"

"N-no." The blonde instantly stuttered out, flinching ever so slightly; she felt her gaze drop to the floor.

Almost immediately, she saw the man's eyes narrow, "what have I told you about stuttering!?"

At his words, Kitty allowed her tense muscles to relax; if he knew about her failing grade, he would have brought it up by now. "It won't happen again, father."

Kitty felt herself stand up extra straight as the man stared her up and down. After a tension filled silence, Greg waved his hand, dismissing his daughter up to her room.

The blonde didn't have to be asked twice; she practically sprinted up the stairs, nearly tripping twice in her haste. As she entered her bedroom she placed her schoolbag on her bed, before grabbing a drink bottle and taking a refreshing sip of it.

"He'll find out eventually, Kitty." She mumbled to herself, quickly finding her wallet and placing it in her school bag; the girl proceeded to pack it with spare Cheerios uniforms and her phone. She knew that she had to be as prepared as she could, as there _was_ a chance that she'd be thrown out again.

The girl then collapsed onto her bed, eyelids drooping; she knew that it was too early to sleep though, she still had to do her homework. The girl didn't want a repeat of her failure. Kitty slowly forced herself to sit up, grabbing her books out of her bag while trying not to crease the uniforms she had put in there.

"Renaissance first," Kitty prioritized, shuddering slightly. Quickly she opened the text-book, reading over everything that she needed to know; she forced herself to reread it over and over again, trying to cram all the information into her brain.

"King Henry's first wife was Catherine of Aragon," Kitty murmured out loud as she closed her text-book. "Then it was Anne Boleyn, then..."

The blonde slammed her fist down on the table as she realized that she'd forgotten the third wife. Biting her lip slightly, she shut her eyes, taking in a shaky breath.

"Why are you so horrible at this, Kitty." She yelled to herself, clenching her hands into fists.

The teenager felt herself tear up as she once again opened her text-book, grunting slightly as she tried to memorize that the third wife was 'Jane Seymour'. The blonde soon blinked away the tears; she hated looking vulnerable in front of any one, especially her parents.

"Alright," Kitty mumbled to herself. "You _have _to get this right. Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves..." The blonde was suddenly interrupted by a furious yell; one that was higher in volume than any she had heard before.

"Kitty! Get down here now!" It was her father.

Kitty felt butterflies fluttering in her stomach as she picked up her schoolbag, quickly making sure that her wallet and phone were in there, before rushing down the stairs. After hesitating slightly, Kitty stumbled into the living room.

"You're history teacher has some very interesting test results from you," Kitty's mother stated, through gritted teeth, her eyes narrowing.

"She does?" Kitty whispered, successfully attempting not to stutter.

At her words, both parents glanced at each other, obvious fury in their eyes; it didn't take them long to turn back to her. The longer they stared, the more angry they appeared to be; her father's frown was clearly deepening as his eyebrows became lower and lower.

"Don't play dumb Kitty," her mother snapped, putting her hands on her hips, "although anyone could tell that you _are_ dumb after looking at these test result."

"You failed." Her father stated, his voice emotionless. Kitty felt herself begin to tremble slightly as her father continued to speak. "Your mother and I went so easy on you whenever you got a B,"

This wasn't true of course, but Kitty stayed silent; last time she had received a grade less than an A, she had been given a black eye, which was extremely hard to cover with concealer.

"This just shows that you're not trying, you stupid worthless bitch." He continued, his hands rolling into fists. "Come here, girl."

Kitty stumbled forward, trembling harder as she stepped closer and closer to him; her breath hitched as she stood directly in front of him. Kitty was half-tempted to flee, but she knew that she'd never be able to live by herself; it had been hard enough for just over a week.

As Kitty's father grunted, her reached out his hand and roughly slapped her. Kitty barely held back the small whimper that threatened to escape her lips; she knew that it would just anger him more.

"You need to learn your lesson." Her father shouted, causing Kitty to flinch. The man then gave her a quick push, successfully shoving the girl onto the ground.

"This is just not acceptable behavior, Kitty." Her mother sighed as Greg grabbed her wrists and pulled her up to her feet again, only to violently push her against the wall.

"Daddy, please." Kitty begged, her voice shaking "I'll do better next time, it won't happen again."

"I wish I could believe that Kitty," he grumbled, temporarily stopping his abuse to look her in her tear-filled eyes, "but I know that you're just a stupid, dirty liar."

Another slap came into contact with the blonde's face, causing her to stumbled to the right, grasping the wall for support. "I'm not lying, daddy."

The man just shook his head at her, his hands rolling into fists; Kitty couldn't help but silently gulp at this, she knew that she was in trouble now.

The first punch came to her shoulder, causing her to fall back into the wall, letting out a small yelp. As Kitty predicted, this caused the man's nostrils to flare, as the level of anger she could see in his eyes rose.

Kitty felt the next blow hit the top of her nose, causing her cry out as she heard a loud crack, and blood began to pool out of it.

"Greg, you'll ruin her Cheerios uniform," her mother immediately exclaimed; the man, however, was too angry to listen to his wife.

Quickly, he grabbed Kitty by her wrist and flung her in the direction of their living room table. Kitty gasped in horror as she felt herself trip, her heading hitting the side of the solid surface. Almost instantly the room began to blur, as she saw darkness creeping into the corner of her eyes.

The blonde vaguely heard her mother state something, although she couldn't make out the words, before she felt a sharp blow to the side of her head, causing everything to fall into darkness.

* * *

Kitty :/ Sorry this chapter took so long; the first time I wrote it, it was all deleted. Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter, I really appreciate it! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one!


	15. Chapter 15

"Alright, glee club." Finn over-enthusiastically exclaimed as he walked into the choir room, a mischievous smirk in his face. "We're going to do something special today." Marley stared at the tall man, scrunching her eyebrows as she pondered over what the surprise could be. "Some of the previous glee club members are visiting Lima! They're coming in to mentor you today."

As Finn's smile became overly large, Marley heard the people in the room begin to chatter. The brunette quickly looked over to Jake, giggling slightly as she saw him shrug. Unlike most of the glee club, Marley and Jake had never met the glee graduates. Marley presumed that they all must be extremely talented though; they did win the national show choir championships .

Finn glanced towards the door. "Here we have Santana," Brittany squeaked at this, an ecstatic grin finding its way onto her face as she enthusiastically clapped. "Puck, Mercedes, Mike and Quinn!"

The aforementioned people walked in the room, some of them waving to the current seniors. Marley couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated; they were all so experienced, while she was just a sophomore with endless dreams that she might not achieve, and a complicated love life - if that's what she could even call it.

"You'll all be in groups of two or three. I've assigned everyone a mentor." Finn continued, a dopey smile finding it's way onto his face. "Tina and Sugar, you're with Mercedes. Marley, your mentor is Santana."

Marley turned to the Latina girl, who threw an almost flirtatious wink her way. The girl felt herself nervously look towards the ground, waiting for Finn to finish calling out the groups before stumbling to her Mentor.

"H-hello?" Marley mumbled, fiddling with her hair.

Santana just looked at the girl with a raised eyebrow, chuckling slightly as the girl timidly glanced up from the floor. "Hey, new Rachel."

"I'm not the new Rachel," Marley stated, a little more power in her voice. "Although_ everyone_ seems to be comparing me to her."

"You sing, and sometimes wear Berry-like sweaters." Santana exclaimed with a shrug as she began to walk out of the choir room. "Anyway, I'm here to mentor you, girly." Marley nodded slightly as she and Santana entered an empty classroom. Santana soon continued to speak. "First of all, how's Brittz doing?"

"She and another girl are competing for head cheerleader." Marley mumbled, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "Brittany was just demoted."

"That bitch," she heard Santana exclaimed under her breath, obviously being over-protective of Brittany. "What's her name?"

"K-kitty," Marley exclaimed, trying to clearly say the name that had brought so much confusion to her; however, her voice wavered slightly.

"And you like her?" Santana immediately questioned, noticing the girl's tone.

"W-well..." Marley stuttered out, her voice quivering slightly as a blush made its way onto her face. "It's complicated."

Marley's words caused Santana to scoff, then roll her eyes. "I know complicated. You're situation is probably nothing compared to what Britt and I went through!"

Marley wasn't sure how to react to the older girl's statement. Her gaze quickly fell to the floor once again as she bit her lip gently.

"You're like an innocent little puppy." The brunette heard Santana murmur under her breath, before the older girl exclaimed, "tell me about it."

Marley rose her eyebrows at the older girl, blinking a few times. She couldn't help but wonder why the older girl was so interested, but quickly began to speak as the older girl expectantly stared at her.

"It all started when she insulted my Mum..." Marley started, gently sitting down on one of the classroom chairs as she told the Latina girl the tale.

Marley felt unnerved as the older girl continued to stare at her with the exact same judging expression; Santana had one eyebrow raised as she stared directly into the brunette's eyes. "And then I went and messed everything up by kissing her." Marley finally finished.

Santana narrowed her eyes slightly at the end of the story. "What did she say after the kiss?"

"She said something along the lines of 'I can't... you can't... I can't' and then she just ran away."

"She probably doesn't have very accepting parents," Santana mumbled through gritted teeth. "When my Abuela rejected me I felt heart-broken, and kind of scared." The girl had trailed off at the last part; Marley could tell that the older girl hadn't intended to say that. The sophomore stayed silent for a while as the older girl put on a tough front, although Marley could see that the rejection of Santana's Abuela still hurt her; it was clear in her eyes.

"How about I have a talk with her," Santana mumbled. "I've had to deal with Quinn for the last too-many years; this cheerleader should be easy." Santana smirked. "If talking doesn't work I can always go _all_ Lima heights on her."

"Don't hurt her." Marley immediately stated, causing Santana to roll her eyes.

"You're practically whipped already." The graduate exclaimed, trying to hold back a smirk.

"I-I'm not." Marley mumbled, lightly blushing. "_I_ was the one who scared her away by kissing her. It was such a stupid thing to do."

"Stop beating yourself up." Santana scoffed. "Britt and I kissed all the time before we got together."

Marley chose to stay silent as she realised that Santana was thinking back to the days before the two got together.

"Anyway, I've got to go do some..." Santana paused for a moment, knowing that she probably shouldn't swear in front of the overly innocent girl. "Stuff." She lamely finished. "How about we get some coffee in a few days so I can actually mentor you on singing, like Frankenteen wanted?"

"A-Alright." Marley mumbled, hating that she stuttered. The girl couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed that the older girl hadn't mentored her singing, although she was definitely glad that she had gotten the Kitty drama off her chest. "I'll see you then, Santana. I hope you and Brittany have a good time."

"We will," Santana yelled over her shoulder as she walked out of the small classroom that they had been conversing in. The Latina girl wasn't going to meet up with Brittany though, instead she had to help her dad out at the hospital (and she wasn't even allowed to wear her candy stripper outfit); however, the girl didn't want to damage her reputation in front of a sophomore. "See you later, girly."

Marley slowly walked out of the classroom to find her Mum and go home; between the kiss, and the mentoring session with Santana, Marley was exhausted.


	16. Chapter 16

Kitty let out a quiet grunt as she groggily awoke. Almost instantly the girl tensed up, unsure as to why she was lying on a hard floor instead of her large, warm and comfortable bed. She allowed her hazel eyes to flicker open, instantly regretting that decision as the bright colours in the room caused her head to begin throbbing. She let out a whimper as she tried to move; everywhere felt sore.

The girl experienced disorientation as she used the table next to her to pull herself into sitting position; she couldn't help but let out a gasp as she realised that it was covered in blood. Kitty frowned at this, biting her lip gently as she tried to recall how she got there. The blonde gently massaged her temples as she began to stand up. Instantly the feeling of spinning entered her head, causing her to gently stumble into the living room table, grasping it for support.

"M-my father," Kitty suddenly remembered, gasping as she realised that the blood that was present on the table was hers. The girl gently took a few deep breaths before attempting to stand again, whimpering slightly as her limbs screamed in protest. "Come on, Kitty, you're a Wilde. You're stronger than this."

Kitty gently bit her lip as she stabilised herself, before slowly forcing herself to stumble in the direction of the stairs. Gradually she made her way up the quite steep steps, clasping the banister for support whenever a dizzy spell overcame her. the girl couldn't help but loosen her tense muscles as she successfully climbed the last step. Quickly, she stumbled into her room; the last thing she wanted was to do was see or talk to one of her parents.

The blonde quickly locked the door of her room, before collapsing onto her bed, fully intending to sleep the pain away; however, as her back hit the soft mattress, she heard a loud crunching sound coming from her nose, causing her to flinch.

The blonde couldn't help but feel worried; she had seen many girls with broken noses due to cheerleading, but she had never believed that she would receive one. All the other cheerleaders knew that they shouldn't mess with her, and her dad tended to avoid her face.

Kitty shakily inhaled as she walked over to the metre high mirror which was located in her room. Her eyes widened as she saw the extreme swelling around her bruised nose. She gently skimmed her fingers over the large bruise that extended to her left eye; the girl gulped as she realised that it was numb.

As much as Kitty wanted to collapse into her bed and sleep, she knew that getting her nose looked at had to come first; she didn't want to somehow make it worse in her sleep. The girl quickly changed into some long clothes, making sure that the ugly blotches of purple on her arms were covered, before carefully walking down the stairs and into the kitchen. The girl quickly gulped down two pain-killers, hoping that that would relieve her body of the tenderness. She then rushed out to her car.

It briefly occurred to her that she shouldn't be driving in her injured condition, but she quickly shrugged it off. She was _Kitty Wilde, _not a weak pansy that was incapable of taking care of herself; although she could begrudgingly admit to herself that living alone in that small hotel room was definitely one of the hardest times of her life. The only remotely positive thing she could remember about living alone was that Marley had been texting her.

Marley Rose; Kitty wasn't sure how to react to that girl. She had made Kitty feel wanted when she was truly alone; when not even her parents could stand to look at her. The fact that the brunette wasn't too bad on the eyes was definitely a positive, but the kiss the other day had definitely scared Kitty; she knew that her parents would do a lot worse than break her nose if they ever found out.

Her parents didn't even know that she had any interest in females as romantic interests, and Kitty planned to keep it that way. She knew that her father would probably just attempt to beat it out of her; while her mother would force her to marry some rich asshole who couldn't care less about her - although Kitty knew her mum would probably try and do that anyway.

"At least I'll make a better parent than my Mum," she mumbled to herself as she pulled up to a red light, grunting slightly as she realised that that may not be the case. "I've made everyone at McKinley's life horrible; what's to say I won't do that to a child?"

Kitty let out a defeated sigh as she drove around a corner, nearing the hospital. The girl quickly attempted to push those thoughts to the back of her mind, choosing to turn the radio on in an attempt to distract herself from both her thoughts and the pain in her ribs. Her attempts, however, were unsuccessful, as every radio station seemed to be mindless babble.

Grumbling slightly, she switched the radio off, glad that she was only a block away from the hospital. She felt herself grit her teeth as she found a spot to park her car; she was not in the mood to deal with irritating questions that were bound to come from the doctors. She did know that it wouldn't be too hard to lie her way out of their questions; it would be easy to convince them of the whole 'I fell down the stairs' excuse.

Kitty slammed the door of her car open as she got out, clasping it for support as she began to feel dizzy once again, her vision blurring slightly. Kitty couldn't help but groan in frustration; she hated feeling this powerless outside of her house. Usually she could act powerful in public; she could demand the respect of others. Sure, she hated that she had to insult people and bring them down in order to feel less powerless, but she didn't want to act like a helpless and abused little girl all the time; plus, insults were what her mother had told her would keep her on top, and she _needed _to stay head cheerleader. She knew that her parents might not let her back in if she was demoted again.

Kitty gently inhaled through her mouth as her vision cleared. The girl quickly made her way to the emergency room, trying extremely hard to hide the fact that she was limping slightly. As Kitty walked into the waiting room she tiredly glared at one of the children who was obviously staring at her bruised nose. The blonde knew that her glare wouldn't have the same effect as when she used it at school, as she wasn't nearly as intimidating with a swollen nose and a bruised left eye.

"I fell down the stairs." Kitty grunted to the Latina girl at the receptionists desk, hating that her broken nose made her usually stern tone sound nasally and pathetic. "I think it's broken, or at least fractured."

The receptionist stared at her with narrowed eyes causing Kitty to bite her lip, although the blonde refused to drop her gaze. Eventually the dark-haired receptionist turned to her computer. "What's your name, Blondie?"

Kitty could admit that she was slightly surprised by the Latina's lack of formality. The extremely small amount of times that Kitty had gone to the hospital, she was showered with overly polite speech and formal gestures.

"Kitty Wilde," she mumbled, rolling her eyes as she realised that she had subconsciously stated her nickname. Grunting slightly, she sighed, "Kathryn Wilde."

At the mention of the blonde's name, the receptionist once again narrowed her eyes, a half-smirk, half-grimace plastering itself of her face. The Latina girl quickly typed something into the computer, her facial expression not changing. "Broken and fractured bones are prioritized. The doctor shall see you in about ten minutes."

Kitty slowly nodded at the girl, not wanting to injure her nose further. Gradually, she turned around and made her way to one of the cushioned seats, briefly turning around as she felt the receptionist's eyes on her. She gently began to fiddle with her hair as she sat down, trying not to feel creeped out by the sole-piercing stare that the dark-haired girl was sending her way. Kitty was tempted to confront her about it, but she didn't want to be thrown out of the hospital if some sort of fight broke out.

"So you're Kitty Wilde?" The blonde jumped slightly as she noticed that the receptionist had sat in the seat next to her. Kitty raised her eyebrow as she looked towards the taller girl, trying to act more confident than she felt.

"Who are you?" Kitty lamely stated, mentally cursing herself as the insults that would usually automatically come out stayed back; she knew it wasn't a good thing that she relied on insults as much as she did.

"The name's Santana Lopez," The Latina girl claimed, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she offered the shorter girl a smirk. "We need to talk, Blondie."

* * *

I'm so sorry that this took so long! School's started up again and I've had no time :(

Thank you to everyone who reviewed; you really inspired me to sit down and type out this chapter. I'll try to update again as soon as possible.


	17. Chapter 17

"First of all," Santana began, raising her left eyebrow, "what happened to you, Blondie? This is not how Marley described you." The Latina let out a throaty chuckle.

"You know Marley?" Kitty immediately questioned, narrowing her eyes at the girl sitting next to her.

"Marley and I are tight," Santana stated, despite the fact that she had only met the girl earlier that day. "Now what happened to you, Blondie, dry blood is not a good look."

Kitty subconsciously moved her arms up to cover her nose, internally cursing that Santana was seeing her in a vulnerable state. "I fell down the stairs."

She could see the questions in the Latina's eyes, and it was clear that Santana didn't believe her as she narrowed her eyes at Kitty. The blonde refused to acknowledge that she had just lied to the older girl, sending her a glare with her hand still covering her nose with her hand.

Finally Santana mumbled, "head of Sue Sylvester's Cheerios simply falling down the stairs? I don't think so."

Kitty chose not to respond to this comment, not wanting Santana to discover the real reason for her broken nose.

"How do you know Marley anyway?" Kitty changed the subject. "And why was she describing me?"

"A magical place called glee club," Santana stated, smirking as she heard Kitty quietly scoff. "You probably will join by the end of the year, Blondie. No need to scoff."

The blonde rolled her eyes, knowing that outright denying would lead to an argument.

"Marley described you because she and I discussed her relationship status earlier today and I couldn't remember who you were, mini-Quinn." Santana smiled. "I now remember that you are the Cheerio that Brittany described as a dolphin."

"A dolphin?" Kitty questioned as she frowned, attempting to see how she was anything like the aquatic mammal, but failing.

Santana nodded slightly. "A gay shark."

Kitty gasped slightly as she rapidly glanced around in order to make sure that no one she knew - or more accurately, anyone her parents knew - were here. She didn't spot anyone, but paranoia still cause a shiver to run down her spine. "What would she know?"

"Britt is the most people smart person in the world, she knew I had feelings for her before I knew." The Latina girl ran her hand through her hair. "Everyone and their pet can see that you like Marley though, and she likes you. You may be scared, but hiding your feelings is so much worse. I would know."

"It's not that simple," Kitty sighed, narrowing her eyes as she glanced around the room once again. "I _can't _be gay."

"Why not, Blondie?" Santana rose her left eyebrow.

"You wouldn't understand." The blonde grimaced, glancing towards the area where the doctor's came out to call their patients.

"You don't think your family will accept you?" The Latina questioned. "My parents eventually accepted me; yours will eventually do the same."

"I_ highly_ doubt that," Kitty mumbled under her breath, grimacing.

"Katherine Wilde." A gruff voice yelled, the sound echoing around the room slightly.

"You're up, Blondie," Santana mumbled. "Go and see how much damage 'falling down the stairs' did."

Kitty hated that there was scepticism in the older girl's tone; inhaling deeply, she headed towards the doctor, glancing back at Santana as the older girl yelled, "Tell Marley how you really feel, Blondie."

"Turn right here," the doctor soothingly whispered as he continued to lead her away from the waiting area. Kitty tried to hide the slight limp she had to the best of her abilities; she just wanted her nose to be fixed, so she could get out of here and avoid getting in bigger trouble from her parents. "And into the room on the left, B4."

Kitty shuffled into the light blue room which she presumed was generally used for the younger kids, as a large grey and blue rocket ship sticker was attached to the ceiling, and several multi-coloured star-shaped pieces of plastic lined the walls.

"Sorry to be presumptuous, but were you in a fight Katherine?" The doctor asked, propping up his glasses before itching his greying moustache.

"It's Kitty," she immediately snapped. "and I fell down a flight of stairs."

The doctor nodded as he walked over to a little blue table in the corner of the room, roughly pushing the keys of a laptop which was sitting there, before turning back to her. "It is necessary for me to touch your nose to determine whether it's broken or not." Kitty briefly nodded, knowing that the doctor wouldn't allow her to deny his request. "This shall almost definitely hurt, Kather... Kitty. You can hold my hand if you like?"

With a roll of her eyes, Kitty shook her head, mumbling, "It's numb anyway."

The girl was tempted to shut her eyes as his hand became closer and closer to her nose, but she didn't; she had been taught not to cower away from inevitable pain. Suddenly she felt the touch on her nose, causing a twinge of pain to ripple through her body as a small whimper escaped her lips.

The doctor shook his head as he moved his hand away. "It's definitely broken, Miss Wilde. Have you ever broke your nose before?"

"No," the blonde mumbled, vigorously rubbing her temples as she tried to ignore her now throbbing nose.

"I should be able to manually force it back into place." Kitty cringed at the doctor's words. "It is necessary to wait for some of the swelling to go down first. You should try to relax as much as possible; I'll have someone check up on you every half-hour."

"Relax? Easier said than done,"Kitty muttered under her breath.

The doctor raised his left eyebrow at the girl. "Someone shall be by to give you painkillers as soon as possible."

Kitty gently sighed as she lay down on the blue hospital bed which matched the light blue colour of the walls. She knew that the waiting would drag on, especially since her parents didn't know she was here; she knew that they would probably kill her if they knew she was at a hospital without their permission.

"Miss Wilde?" A young brown-haired boy entered the room with a cup of water and two pills, which Kitty presumed were the painkillers that the doctor mentioned.

"That's me," she mumbled as she sat up, not even bothering to insult the fact that the stethoscope around his neck made him look like some intern who was a complete wannabe.

The boy nodded, handing her the medicine before creepily staring at her with his bright blue eyes. "It's medical procedure that I stay here until you down the painkillers. You're medical report states that you have no known allergies to any type of painkiller, is that correct?"

The blonde nodded once, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at him, before placing one of the pills in her mouth and, with the help of the water, swallowing it; the other pill soon followed.

"Now leave," Kitty all but yelled, she was sick of dealing with people. The boy's eyes widened slightly at her suddenly aggressive tone; he quickly obeyed her pushing the door shut on his way out. Kitty lay back down on the bed, running her hand through her hair as she faintly heard a baby beginning to cry.

"Santana doesn't know what she's talking about," the blonde scoffed as she stared up at the ceiling, trying to avoid looking at the rocket ship sticker up there. "She wouldn't understand."

The girl sighed, grabbing her phone from the pocket of her Cheerios jacket as she unsuccessfully attempted to forget about what the older girl had said to her. "I can't just 'tell her how I feel' until I'm ready to flee the country."

As she unlocked her phone she saw that she had no new messages. Scrolling through her contacts she found Marley Roses number, and began to read the texts that the girl had sent her. "It's not that I don't want to tell her how I feel, I just can't. The only way we could ever be with each other was in secret; my parents would find out anyway."

Kitty grimaced as she started a new text message, hoping that she wouldn't regret what she was about to send. She knew she was being irrational, but she didn't want to cut Marley out of her life completely, even if they were just friends. 'Marley, maybe we should talk?'


	18. Chapter 18

Marley collapsed onto her bed as her eyes fluttered closed. Between school, glee club and kissing the head cheerleader herself, the girl had had quite a long day. As the brunette deeply inhaled, she heard her phone go off from the other side of the room. Groaning at the thought of getting up, Marley forced herself out of bed to look at the text message she received.

'I had a talk with Blondie, she should be confessing her love for you any minute. Also, I think she got in a fight, although she's denying it. - S' Is what the text message from Santana said.

"Kitty confessing her 'love' for me?" Marley sighed, running her hand through her hair as she shook her head. "I highly doubt that'll happen."

The brunette gently placed her old phone back onto her desk before walking back to her bed, grabbing a book before sitting down on the cushiony mattress. The girl opened the book to the place where she had folded the corner. Her eyes began to dart back and forth as she sped through the pages. However, her thoughts soon drifted, and she found herself being distracted from the story.

"What did Santana say to Kitty?" she mused, hoping that the girl hadn't embarrassed her in anyway, or been to hard on her for reclaiming Brittany's spot as the head cheerleader. She had only met Santana earlier that day, but from what she'd heard the girl could be extremely snarky and aggressive.

Marley narrowed her eyes. "I don't remember Kitty getting into any fights either."

The girl gently folded the corner of the page of the book, and placed in back onto her shelf as she walked to her desk, starting up her small second-hand laptop. It didn't take the girl long to open the Internet and enter the address of Jacob Ben-Israel's blog.

"If Kitty got into a fight, it'll definitely be on here." Marley rationalised, scrolling through the many posts.

"Celeste 'neckbrace cheerio' got into a fight?" Marley read clicking on the article. As she skimmed through it, she noticed that it was a simple feud with a freshman who had dyed her hair blue.

Clicking back she continued to the list of articles she continued to scroll down, scoffing at one which claimed she and her close friend Jake were dating. She loved Jake, but only as friends; Kitty on the other hand was a whole other story.

"I can't find anything about Kitty getting in a fight!" Marley muttered after she began seeing articles that were weeks old. "And Jacob would know, even if it was outside of school hours." Marley shuddered as she recalled how much of a stalker Jacob was. She still remembered that time he had looked into a cheerios' bedroom using binoculars and discovered that she was cheating on her boyfriend; or the time he had hacked into a security camera to see two jocks fist-fighting over a girl.

'Are you sure Kitty got into a fight? - M' Marley texted to Santana, before quickly sending, 'There's nothing about it on Jacob's blog."

Marley's eyebrows scrunched up as she scrolled back up to the top, rereading the articles to make sure she hadn't missed it. She had reread five titles when she heard her phone beep again.

'Are you sure, girly? - S' Was the reply Santana gave her.

Marley ran her hand through her hair as she continued to reread the titles, before searching 'Kitty Wilde' in the search bar. The most recent post tagged with the blonde cheerios name read 'Head Bitch In Charge spreading untrue rumours?'.

'Certain. - M' she immediately replied, wondering what Kitty had gotten herself into.

'Well those hand-shaped bruises on her didn't come from falling down the stairs! - S.' Was the immediate reply she received.

"It must have something to do with that pain I constantly see in her eyes," Marley muttered to herself, thinking back to the reason she had begun to text Kitty in the first place. Back to when she didn't even realise that the fact that she thought about the blonde more than most would, was actually a gradually developing crush.

The girl's phone beeped again, causing her to jump slightly. 'Do you think it's a parent or sibling? - S'

Marley's eyebrows furrowed as she considered this. She knew that the blonde was an only child, so a sibling was out of the question, but her parents? Marley didn't think that her Mum, Milly was capable of hurting her; surely Kitty's parents were the same? Plus they were a quite rich and well-known family, why would they harm Kitty?

'No siblings, but parents are technically possible... - M' She typed in, quickly sending the text. 'I can't see why though. They're a well off family.'

'Quinn's family were rich, yet her parents were psychos. Who knows what Blondie's parents are capable of.' Santana immediately replied. Marley's eyebrows scrunched up as she ran her hand through her hair, contemplating the older girls words.

"I hope Kitty's okay," she sighed to herself as she gradually shook her head. "Maybe I should ask her?" The girl glanced down at her phone, gently biting her lip. "She probably wouldn't want to speak to me after the kiss though."

Marley slowly began to pace around the perimeter of her bedroom, letting out a frustrated sigh. "I just wanted to help her because she looked so sad, but I ended up ruining everything."

The girl was just about to sit down on her bed when she heard her phone go off again. She felt her heart thud in her chest as she noticed that the text wasn't from Santana, but from the head cheerleader herself.

Marley''s eyes widened as she read the text. 'Marley, maybe we should talk?'

"Kitty wants to talk to me?" Marley questioned, "I kissed her and she still wants to talk to me?"

The girl quickly began to type a reply, but soon deleted it, unsure as to whether she should bring up the kiss or not; for all she knew Kitty may just want to pretend that it never happened.

'What do you want to talk about?' Marley typed, quickly deciding that she should let Kitty decide whether she wanted to talk about what had happened between them. The girl pressed send as she anxiously began fiddling with her phone, butterflies beginning to flutter in her stomach.

As minutes passed without a response, Marley got her iPod out of her draw, placing one ear bud into her left ear before walking back over to her bed and lying down. Her eyes drooped slightly as her back muscles relaxed due to the familiarity of the music; her shoulders, which had been so tense that they'd risen to the level of her lips, gradually lowered back down. The girl let out a gentle yawn as she remembered that she remembered that she had been about to go to bed before the texting session with Santana occurred.

"I can't go to sleep," Marley quietly mumbled to herself, her voice heavy with exhaustion. "I have to wait for Kitty to talk to me."

Yet as a few minutes turned into half-an-hour, Marley couldn't contain her sleepiness any longer. Her eyes were constantly drooping, only for her to unenergetically snap them open again. Without warning, they fell shut once again; but this time, Marley was too tired to force them open, causing her to fall into a light sleep, her iPod still playing into her ear.

* * *

'What do you want to talk about?'. The text sat in Kitty's hand, almost mocking her.

"Why didn't I think this through?" The blonde groaned to herself, shaking her head ever so gently. "What am I supposed to say to her? 'You kissed me and I kind of liked it but my crazy parents would probably _literally_ kill me if they knew? I like you because you were the only one who was kind to me when my parents threw me out, but we can't be together?' I can't say anything like that! I've insulted her Mum too many times for anything to work between us anyway. It was probably just a pity kiss or a dare or something like that anyway."

Kitty gently bit her lip as she hesitantly ran her index finger down the right side of her nose, sighing ever so slightly as she realised that the painkillers had kicked in. "I have to text her back something."

Glancing down at her phone, she furrowed her eyebrows, typing in 'You kissed me?' but hesitating to send it, unsure whether she was being to direct in confronting the situation.

Kitty couldn't help but let out a frustrated grunt. "I'm a Wilde, I'm not supposed to hesitate on anything. I have to be the perfect child!"

The girl gently ran her hand through her hair as she stared back down at the phone, her eyebrows furrowing. After staring at her phone in silence for a short while, Kitty gently ran her left hand index finger down the left of her nose, letting out a short sigh as she realised that the painkillers had taken affect.

"Katherine Wilde?" Kitty jumped slightly and nearly dropped her phone as she heard the sudden hum of a man's voice. Seconds later the head of the aforementioned man peeked around the corner of the doorframe as he opened the door. Kitty noticed that the man had stuble on his chin, as if he had not shaved for days, as well as wrinkles which appeared to permanently reside on his forehead. He had chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes, which appeared to be shimmering with worry. He also appeared to be limply holding a clipboard and pen in one hand.

"What do you want, Stubles?" Kitty retorted, tensing as her defence mechanism of insults occurring.

"I'm just a friendly guy who wants to talk to you," he hummed; Kitty noticed that he had quite a naturally relaxing voice, but she refused to allow her tense muscles to loosen.

"Do you work here?" She questioned, raising her left eyebrow slightly.

"I do happen to work here, yes." He immediately replied, his eyebrows furrowing. "I need to have a serious talk with you, Katherine."

"It's Kitty," she snapped, rolling her eyes as she felt that he was talking down to her.

"Right, Kitty," he mumbled, scribbling something down on the clipboard. "You fell down the stairs correct?"

"Correct, Stubles," she muttered without delay, realising that he would probably call her out on her lie if she hesitated.

The man simply shook his head slightly before writing on the clipboard once again. "Are you sure?"

Kitty nodded, the palms of her hands beginning to sweat; she knew he was onto her, she could see concern in his hazel eyes. "Of course I'm sure!"

"I'm not making any accusations," the man slowly began to say, causing Kitty to bite her lip gently. "But one of the assistants noticed some peculiar bruises." Kitty remained silent as the man hesitated. "Bruises that resemble the shape of a hand."

"Who are you to even make accusations, Stubles?" Kitty felt her defensiveness rising. "You're just some old, forever alone Lima loser who barely manages to hold a job at this horrible hospital in this worthless little town."

The man shook his head slightly, the concern in his eyes not changing to tears like everyone else she usually insulted, like Marley and her mother. He simply pressed the pen back down onto the paper on the clip board and scribbled something else down. Kitty couldn't help but let out a frustrated grunt, and then a sigh.

"Someone else shall probably be here to talk to you later, Kitty," the man whispered as he turned towards the door. "If someone, a sibling, a parent or some of your peers from school are hurting you, it's okay to tell someone. We can help you."

"No one is," Kitty instinctively denied it, defensively crossing her arms in front of her chest.

The man hesitantly nodded his head before walking out of the hospital room, gently closing the door as he left.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about," Kitty whispered, although she knew that she was lying to herself. Quickly she attempted to change the subject. "I should text Marley back."

'Hey Marley,' Kitty typed, briefly pausing to consider what she should say. "Talking in real life would be better, but I don't want her to see me with this damn swollen nose." the blonde mused, before typing, 'I think we should meet up at breadstix in three days, at six, and have a proper face-to-face conversation.'

The girl knew that the swelling should have gone almost all the way down in a few days if she iced it regularly. She also knew that she would be able to use cover-up to make her face look normal.

"And send," Kitty mumbled as she pressed the button, noticing that it had been quite a while since Marley had texted her.

Without warning Kitty heard someone knock on the door. "I hope it's not Stubles again."

"Katherine, I'm here to see if the swelling has gone down enough for me to crack your nose back into place," she heard the doctor exclaim from the other side of the door.

"Sure," Kitty mumbled as the doctor opened the door, rubbing his chin as he looked towards her nose.

"The swelling _has_ gone down slightly, I should be able to push it back so it can heal properly," the doctor mumbled as he walked over. "Just tell me when you're ready. You can hold my hand if you like."

Kitty rolled her eyes, her defences still up. "Just get it over with."

The doctor nodded, gently touching Kitty's nose as he determined how much force he had to apply to get it into the correct position. "I'm going to crack it back into place on the count of three, alright?"

Kitty let out a hum of acceptance as he mumbled, "One."

"Two," he muttered as he applied pressure on the blonde's nose, causing her to snap her eyes closed and flinch as she heard quite a loud crack. She couldn't help but let out a shriek as a wave of pain rushed through her body, causing her to shudder. Slowly she felt her nose begin to go numb again.

"I hate it when stupid doctor's lie about what number they're counting to," Kitty grumbled as the doctor gently ran his finger down her now correctly positioned nose, causing her to flinch slightly once again.

"Your nose is correctly positioned now, Miss Wilde. It should be almost completely back to normal in about six weeks, although the pain and bruising shall be gone in around 2 weeks. I suggest you take a strong painkiller that I can prescribe you once a day for the next few weeks." The doctor exclaimed, sounding way to peppy for Kitty's liking.

"Can I leave now, or is there some medical sign out you have to do?" Kitty sighed, suddenly feeling fatigued.

"First there's someone you need to talk to," the doctor mumbled as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Let me take you to room 'T2'."

Kitty followed the doctor in silence as he led her to the aforementioned room. Kitty gently bit her lip as she was lead into an elevator, and taken to level five of the hospital. As soon as the lift door opened, the doctor pointed towards a corridor which ran to the right.

"Just go down that corridor, Katherine," he muttered. "I trust you can find your way from here."

Kitty briefly nodded as she walked out of the lift, immediately turning down the corridor. She instantly found room 'T2' which predictably was the second room down the corridor.

For a moment she stood outside the door, considering whether she should knock or simply enter; however she soon decided to go in. As soon as she opened the door she saw 'Stubles' standing next to a woman with shoulder length blonde hair.

"Hello, Miss Wilde. My name is Mary and I am from Child Protective Services." The mysterious woman stated, causing Kitty's eyes to widen.


End file.
